The Best of both universes
by Janusi
Summary: A crossover between Babylon 5 and Star Trek. Stranded in another galaxy, Captain Walker must make a new home for his crew and fight ancient enemies. Chapters 40a is up at last! PERMANENT HIATUS
1. And so it begins

Disclaimer: Neither Star Trek nor Babylon 5 belong to me and that is too bad.  
  
Stardate Stardate 55978.6  
  
Captain's log: I am starting to wonder why we were sent on this milk run. My ship along with the Thunderchild and the Salvador have all been outfitted with the new technologies that have been brought home by Voyager. Deployable armour, transphasic torpedoes and multispatial shielding and on my own ship has a slipstream drive as well making my ship a whole other animal. Not to mention the astrometrics lab that has gotten my science officer ecstatic. Well, as far as a Vulcan can be ecstatic anyway. And what is our first mission in my new Sovereign class starship? We have to transport personnel to starbase 345 where new ships are being constructed. The senior staff of those ships is already there but its our job to bring the rest. The journey is less dull thanks to the 2 other starships travelling with us but I would be glad to trade their company in for some new spatial anomaly.  
  
End log.  
  
And after that comment the captain sighed. He was young for a starfleet captain, only 34. If it hadn't been for the war with the Dominion he wouldn't have had such a lightning fast career but war could have that effect. He managed to stay alive and keep those under him alive where others didn't even survive their first mission. He was tall and slender with brown eyes and brown hair that he kept short. He was still amazed sometimes that he was a captain of a federation starship, wondering why he had gotten so lucky. But not today, today he was just a bit annoyed that he had to do this menial task first before he could begin with his real mission.  
  
His train of thought was interrupted when his ship shuddered. Before his first officer could call him he was already on the bridge.   
"We have dropped out of slipstream as have the others. However, engineering reports that all systems are functioning normally", Thalev, his Andorian first officer, said. The Odyssey was the only one of the three ships capable of creating a slipstream tunnel and so they had to tow the other 2 or they would have to travel at normal warp.  
"If the slipstream drive is working then it must be something from the outside, ensign scan the surrounding space."   
"I have something, sir. A spatial anomaly moving at low warp bearing 260-43 and it is coming towards us. Readings do not correspond with any known phenomenon."   
Normally captain Peter Walker would have loved to stay and investigate but he had a mission to accomplish and even if he hadn't he wouldn't plunge his ship head long into an unknown anomaly. "Helm, lay in a course away from the anomaly, warp 8. Tell the others to follow us."   
"I can't form a stable warp field and the impulse engines just went offline."  
More bad news came from his communications officer: "The other ships are reporting the same problems."  
"Shields?"  
"Not working either but we still have the armour."  
"Then deploy the armour and route auxiliary power to the structural integrity fields. All hands, brace for impact!"   
On the other ships the armour was deployed as well and not a moment to soon because it was then that bright ribbon of light reached the ships. The light engulfed the ships and even inside the ships the light became so bright that captain Walker had to cover his eyes.....  
  
To Be Continued 


	2. This ain't Kansas

This ain't Kansas  


  
The bright light that had blinded him and his crew withdrew suddenly but it took a second or two before he got his eyesight back. Blinking he looked around to see in what state his crew was. Everybody seemed to be fine and the ship itself seemed to be undamaged too.  
"Stand down Red alert and retract the armour. Give me a damage report and casualties list, lieutenant Retudo."  
"No damage and no casualties so far, sir. The Thunderchild and the Salvador are reporting the same."  
He couldn't believe his luck, normally there would be at least some damage or a few casualties when a ship got hit by an unknown spatial anomaly. But the universe is never that merciful as the captain would soon find out. The first problem was spotted by lieutenant O'Reilly manning the helm.  
"Sir, according to sensors we are no longer at the same coördinates as when we got hit by the anomaly. However, sensors can't determine were we are."  
"Have you run a diagnostic on them?"  
"Yes, sir. And I still get the same results. The stars seem to have moved or disappeared while there are even a few new ones and the systems themselves have changed in many cases. The sol system seems to be one of the few that hasn't."  
  
Now, the communications officer too came with startling news. "I am not detecting any Federation signal apart from us. In fact, I am not detecting any subspace communications whatsoever."   
"Hail the Salvador and the Thunderchild, conference mode."  
"Both ships are responding."   
  
On screen the two captains appeared. The captain of the Salvador was a human named Boris Santowitz, a man that made up in width what he lacked in height. He had dark brown eyes, red hair with streaks of gray in it and a half smile that almost never left his face. But it wasn't there today, instead Boris looked very worried. Captain Turol however looked as she always did. Very serious and without any emotion at all, in short as a Vulcan.  
  
"By now," Captain Walker began," your sensors must have shown you too that we are no where we were supposed to be."   
"Yes, they have but they are not telling us where we are," said captain Santowitz with a faint Russian accent. "I assume your astrometrics lab is figuring out where we are as we speak." Walker nodded affirmatively.   
"I expect the results in an hour."   
"Then there is no reason to continue this conversation at this time," said Turol. "We can reconvene on the Odyssey at that time."  
Both captains agreed with that suggestion and they ended the call.  
"So Thalev, what do you think of our milk run so far?" Commander Thalev just looked at him and said: "Uneventful so far."  
  
One hour later on board the Odyssey   
"I have finished analyzing both the scan of the surrounding space and the readings our ships took when they were inside the anomaly." That was how lieutenant T'nal started to tell the captains what they had discovered.  
"When we were inside the anomaly sensors detected quantum, temporal and spatial fluctuations. While we were in the anomaly sensors clearly show that we past through several different quantum realities before we arrived here."  
"Wait a second," said the chief engineer from the Odyssey Yatoshi," are you saying we are no longer in our own universe?"   
"Exactly, scans clearly show that the quantum signature of the surrounding space differs from our own."  
"Do you have an idea as to how we can return to our own universe, lieutenant?" asked captain Turol.   
"The anomaly left no trace our sensors can detect and it left this universe shortly after left it. Furthermore the spatial and temporal fluctuations indicate that this phenomenon is not just moving through the different quantum realities but also through space and time."   
Walker managed to produce a small smile. "So in other words, I will have more change making you laugh then we have in finding this anomaly. Can we get back without the anomaly?"  
"Not to my knowledge, Starfleet has encountered parallel dimensions before but in those cases the anomaly that was the cause of the dimensional shift remained stationary and did not move to another dimension. Starfleet currently does not have the technology to move between universes. I will keep working on it, but I do not expect positive results."  
  
"Then we will be stuck here for a while. That means that we are going to need a place where we can maintain our ships. They wont last forever without visits to a dock."  
Captain Turol was the first to come with a proposal. "That would be the most logical course, however our mere presence here could be considered a violation of the Prime directive. If we simply settle somewhere without any knowledge of the local political situation we may end up violating the territory of some hostile species. I suggest we first gather information on the technology and political situation in this area of space. They may have technology that would allow us passage back to our own quantum reality."   
"Sounds good.", said captain Santowitz. "Since the sol system here looks exactly like our own it may be the best place to start. Who knows, there maybe another Federation there or at least humans."  
"The sol system is as good a place to start as any other. However we should minimize exposure to the locals for now. We have no way to know how they might react when they see us and that is why I want to propose the following."  
  
Now captain Walker hesitated, his proposal was a bit irregular and could be against the spirit of the treaty but they weren't in their universe now and the Romulans hadn't objected to its use by the Defiant.  
"In our database we have the specifications for the phase cloak, I suggest we outfit our ships with it so that we can study the natives without getting detected."  
Captain Turol raised an eyebrow at this proposal, but Santowitz seemed to be considering the idea.  
"Captain, the Federation signed a treaty banning the development of such a device. It would be against the spirit of that treaty."   
"I know its against the spirit of the treaty, but it's not against the letter of it and we will destroy them as soon as we get back home. We are alone out here in unknown territory, we need every advantage we can get."  
  
Reluctantly Turol agreed as did Santowitz, it would take several hours to built the cloak and several more to get it to work. Captain Walker hoped they would find a way home soon, but in his heart he didn't think he would ever see earth, his earth, again.  
  
TBC 


	3. Of Constitutions and Directives

Of Constitutions and Directives  
  
Captain's log, stardate 55979.8 After our ships have been equipped with the phase cloaks, we went underway to Earth. Our journey would take us through another system and we decided that we would first stop there after we detected several ships in the system. So far the cloak is working but we haven't encountered any ships yet so we don't know what kind of sensors they have. But that is about to change, because we will reach the system soon. We haven't detected any subspace communication yet nor any ship going at warp speed except us. I can only conclude that they are not using these technologies but is that because they have something else or is it because the people here are not yet capable of leaving their solarsystem? This is one question we will be able to answer soon, I wish they could all be answered so easily.  
  
End Log  
  
"Captain to the bridge."  
  
As the captain entered the bridge the first reports came in.  
  
"Relay our findings to the other ships. Well, what do you got for me, Ensign Oran?"  
  
"I am detecting 7 large ships in the system and 57 small ones. Although small is relative because the large ships are all several hundred meters long. Most of them seem to be civilian crafts but one of them looks like a warship. Their power readings are all much lower then our own, I mean with the cloak down. There is a lot of tachyon emissions coming from the ships and a few satellites in the system. Some of them could be sensors but some of them are definitely not. It appears they use modulated tachyon beams as a means for faster then light communications. There is a domed colony on the fourth planet and a construction of some kind near the planet. There is an unknown element inside the 4 pylons that make it up, and it seems to be containing a lot of energy."  
  
"What about their propulsion systems, any indication that they are warp capable? It doesn't seem likely that they could talk to each other across several lightyears if there is nobody there to talk with."  
  
"The ships are equipped with ion engines, I am not detecting any warp nacelles. If you want better readings then we will have to get closer."  
  
"Thank you, ensign Oran, that will be all. Lieutenant Yatoshi, can you modify our systems so that we can receive their broadcasts and answer them if we want?"  
  
"I should be able to do that, but it is going to take me at least half an hour."  
  
"Okay, do it. Leuitenant Ororo, hail captain Santowitz and captain Tuvol."  
  
"So what do you think about the locals so far?"  
  
Tuvol was the first to respond, "They seem to be less advanced then us, but we do not know yet if others have more advanced technology. I suggest we send one of our ships in to take a closer look and get some readings on the beings that operate these crafts."  
  
"Sounds like a job for me." said Santowitz. "My ship is the smallest so I should go in first."  
  
Both captains agreed and the Salvador went underway. Soon it reached its first target, the warship.  
  
"That is one big ship." whispered the helmsman.  
  
"So, commander Maldon what are the capabilities of this oversized thin can?"  
  
"The ship is 1,025.39 meters long and is powered by 3 fusion reactors that are currently producing 191.7 terawatts of energy however the ship isn't running on full power at the moment. But it seems unlikely that they can output more then 2,000 terawatts. Their weapons consists of several plasma based cannons, two laser/particle beam hybrids and a complement of fusion missiles. I am not detecting a shield generator of any kind nor any structural integrity field. Apparently the ship relies on its six to eight meter thick hull for protection. I am also detecting a quantity of the material we detected inside the pylons here, it is concentrated in three places inside the ship but I have no idea what it is for. Vital signs indicate that there are 556 individuals on board, all human."  
  
"You mean that there vital signs are the same as humans?"  
  
"Yes, they are. However there was another clue that led me to the conclusion that these are indeed humans."  
  
On the view screen a close up of a part of the hull of the massive ship appeared and there it was in big letters: EAS Lexington in plain English. The crew was momentarily stunned as the implications settled in.  
  
"What are the chances of that? Never mind, helm set a course for the pylons."  
  
"Aye, sir."  
  
As they flew towards it, so did one of the smaller ships. It was 60 meters in length and has a some what cylindrical appearance. The crew had already begun examining the construction when the other ship reached it. After a signal from the ship the construction powered up and suddenly a swirling hole in space appeared. It actually looked more like a tunnel and had a yellow colour.  
  
"Wow, what is it?" asked captain Santowitz  
  
"It appears to be a hole in the fabric of space leading to another dimension."  
  
"As in a parallel universe?"  
  
"No, I am afraid not. The readings indicate that it leads to another dimensional plain in this universe, much like subspace." As the lieutenant gave his analysis the hole in space collapsed after the ship had entered it.  
  
"Too bad, but this is still amazing and it answers our question of how they get from one system to another. Did you find any amount of the unknown substance on board that ship?"  
  
"No, sir. The warship and the pylons are the only ones that contain that substance."  
  
"Then that material must be the key to this particular technology and it also means that the warship can make its own hole without the aid of a gate. Helm, set a course for the colony and make certain that we fly in proximity of at least a few of those other ships. I can't believe that there are only humans in this system."  
  
After the Salvador had completed its survey they returned to the others. They had already relayed their readings and findings while the Chief engineer of the Odyssey had kept his word and the ship was now monitoring the communications in the system.  
  
They spent two days observing the system before moving on to Earth. Once they reached the system they found it to be busing with activity and detected numerous warships and many more civilian ships. Again, they decide that only the Salvador would go in and relay its findings to the others. Now that they could all receive the tachyon communications, the amount of information they gathered increased exponentially. Captain Santwitz had parked his defiant class starship in orbit around Mars after dropping a stealth probe in the atmosphere of Jupiter. From there they could keep an eye on everything without getting too close.  
  
"So, they just declared martial law?" asked captain Santowitz.  
  
"Yes, sir. Their president cited security concerns after an alien ship destroyed several facilities on Ganymede. However there is more going on. President Clark has also disbanded the Senate and he is removing anyone that wont leave by force. A part of the military has mutinied and has called for Clarks resignation but they are a minority."  
  
"Right now, I would agree with the mutineers. I have seen the drabble that is being put on the air. They seem to be very concerned with alien influences but they seem to be a bit vague about what that entails exactly. If you ask me, I would say that we are about to see how a democracy is turned into a dictatorship. With the current climate we can forget about settling here."  
  
"Sir, a news bulletin from ISN you may want to see."  
  
"Put it on screen."  
  
"Xavier Montoya," the news reporter began, "head of the Mars provisional government, announced today that he will not implement the martial law order given five days ago by President Clark. So far Earth Dome has had no official response to this act of open defiance by Mars except to say that they are considering all options."  
  
"Put it of the main viewer, what is the word on the military channels?"  
  
It had taken some time and they were not yet able to read all of them but they had decrypted most military transmissions after only a day in the system.  
  
"They have just ordered that the domed colonies be bombed until Mars surrenders."  
  
"Can we get a visual?"  
  
"One of the colonies is being attacked right now, putting it on the main viewer."  
  
The shocked crew of the Salvador could now see how two fighters flew towards one of the domes and released 2 missiles blasting a hole in the dome all the while ignoring the pleas from the colonists.  
  
"How many casualties?"  
  
"Several thousand so far but it is still climbing as the dome looses air."  
  
"Tell captain Walker and captain Tuvol that we are coming back and that I want a meeting on the Odyssey as soon as I get back. It's time we discuss our options."  
  


  


  
"Well, we are all here and we have all been following the events unfolding here." Captain Walker got a sad look when he finished that sentence. He had seen the bombing too and he couldn't believe that these humans hadn't learned from the mistakes of the past. And they had gathered enough information about this earth's past to realize that they had made many of the same mistakes as their earth had. Only after the twenty first century did their histories begin to differ. "Now we have to decide where we are going."  
  
As always it was Tuvol that summed up which options they had and why each one was not a viable option. "Many of the races in this region would react hostile to us. The Centauri for example are currently ruled by an emperor who is apparently suffering from a mental illness. The so-called League of Non-Alligned Worlds are fighting amongst each other, The Minbari would simply tell us to go away and we can make absolutely no state on how the Vorlons would react to us. However the fact that every ship that has entered their territory has disappeared is not encouraging. Then there are the humans..."  
  
It was at this moment that a nervous ensign interrupted her. "Captains, there is an ISN broadcast that I think you should see."  
  
Both captain Walker and Tuvol raised an eyebrow. "Let us see it, ensign." said captain Walker.  
  
On the screen appeared a man with black hair and a mustache who was partially bald and rather agitated. "I'm sorry, Jane. I'm sorry I jumped in like this, but we have to... the colonies at Orion 7 and Proxima 3, have just broken away from the Earth Alliance in protest over the bombing of Mars. They're setting themselves up as independent states until such time as President Clark is impeached." Now the reporter that had been interrupted tried to stop him but he ignored her and continued. "Clark doesn't want this information released but we have to go with this now cause we don't know how much longer we can stay on the air. Armed troops have begun moving in on the ISN Broadcast Center here in Geneva." This surprised the other reporter who now looked at him in disbelief. "We just saw them coming around the corner. We're trying to get a camera down there to document what's going on. I can hear gunfire now, up here on the fourteenth floor. Listen to me, there's information you don't have, that's been going on for the last year that we haven't been allowed to tell you..."  
  
As parts of the studio began to fall down the transmission was cut. But there was more news.  
  
"Captains, I am afraid that is not all. The military has been ordered to seize control of all the colonies and outposts that could rebel."  
  
"So what do we do? Do we turn our backs on the humans and try our luck elsewhere or do we help them?"  
  
Captain Tuvol answered Walker's question immediately, "Captain, interfering in an alien culture in this way clearly goes against the Prime Directive. We should leave the area, find a region that is not inhabited and settle there or find a way home."  
  
"I do not agree with you, first of all they are not aliens but humans. Second, the colonies have declared independence and that makes it an external affair. And lastly we already interfered with the normal development of the people in this universe when we arrived here. So far we have been able to limit the contamination by using our cloaks but we can't keep our ships operation indefinitely without outside supplies. Like it or not, unless we fly our ships into a sun now we are going to interfere with their lives. I for one am not willing to commit suicide and most of our crews would share that sentiment. We have an opportunity here to help, I am not saying that we should decloak in orbit of Earth and take the president prisoner, but we can help one of the colonies defend itself against the forces of President Clark. In exchange we would get a base of operation from which we can keep our ships running and maybe find a way home."  
  
"Some of your arguments are incorrect, however you do make a valid point." After that the vulcan was quiet as she considered his point.  
  
Captain Santowitz leaned towards Walker. "Well, I am convinced. They are still humans and I don't like what is going on here one bit."  
  
"Very well, we will assist one of the colonies but which one? There are not that many options, as most of the colonies will already be overrun by the time we get there, or they are still loyal to Clark or they do not have the facilities we need."  
  
"I know, I have just taken a look on the list of colonies and outposts that are going to be attacked and there is only one that we can reach in time and has the things we need. However, it also has the added bonus that it has embassies of almost every race in the region. It is called Babylon 5."  
  
TBC 


	4. First Contact

First contact  
  
As soon as they had agreed to a course of action they ordered their ships to head for Babylon 5, warp 7. As the Federation ships were under way to Babylon 5 they stayed in the Ready Room of the Odyssey to discuss how they would help the station defend itself and what their story would be. Captain Tuvol was in favor of hiding where they came from for the time being.  
  
"It is unlikely they would believe us if we told them that we came from another universe, instead I propose that we simply claim to be from the other side of the galaxy. We can explain the presence of humans aboard by saying that you are the offspring of a group of humans that was abducted at sometime in the twentieth century. The fact that our organization is located on the other side of the galaxy would explain why we don't try to go back home but at the same time gives us some backing."  
  
"Why abducted, why not claim to be from a lost colony ship?" asked Santowitz.  
  
"Because they don't seem to have any of those, not to mention that we would be hard pressed to explain how you ended up so far away from earth or the genetic differences that may exist between you and the humans from this reality."  
  
"It may be best to simply remain vague about were we come from," proposed Captain Walker, "until we get to know these people better so that we can better asses how they would react to the truth. We can't lie to them indefinitely, they could figure out that our story doesn't add up or one of our crewmembers could have a slip of the tongue."  
  
After some consideration and further debate it was concluded that they would remain vague about their origins but they would keep the story proposed by Tuvol as an option.  
  
Walker immediately moved on. "Then our next item of discussion is how will we handle the situation at Babylon 5 once we get there? Do we all decloak once we get there, only some of us or do we wait and see how the station handles itself first?"  
  
"I say we all decloak in a show of force."   
  
"I agree with captain Santowitz," added Tuvol. "It could intimidate them sufficiently that they will withdraw without firing a shot thereby saving lives. Of course this is based on the assumption that we will arrive in time to prevent the onset of hostilities and that their commander will not misjudge our capabilities."  
  
"We could be too early or too late which would force us to either act immediately or wait a while. If we are too early we could take the opportunity to introduce us to Babylon 5 and begin building up some trust even before the fighting starts. But if the fighting has already started when we get there, then I say that we should go with your suggestion captain Santowitz. Besides being a show of force it would only sow distrust if we had one of our ships decloak after the initial conflict. They may wonder if we are hiding any more ships nearby."  
  
"That suspicion could still arise, captain Walker. But this is the best course of action given the circumstances. I have reviewed the scans the Salvador took from the EAS Lexington and although their weapon systems are inferior in comparison to our own, they do have the advantage of numerical superiority and the ability to recover their losses. We cannot replace one of our ships should it be lost," said captain Tuvol.  
  
Now captain Santowitz began his analysis of the forces they would face. "From the information we have been able to gather about Earth alliance ships I have concluded that their destroyers are more powerful then the Lexington and the orders that were sent clearly speak of 4 of those destroyers. The Lexington was a so-called Hyperion class heavy cruiser, which is smaller and has weaker weapons then their Omega class destroyers. We can expect two of these Hyperions to be at Babylon 5.  
It seems that fighters are playing a vital role in combat here. Both the Hyperions and the Omega's carry them but they seem to have little protection and their weaponry would be ineffective against our shields."  
  
"Not to mention the fact that they don't have artificial gravity except on their destroyers. And those generate it by rotating a section of their ship!" Captain Walker shook his head in disbelief. Artificial gravity was a very common technology in their universe but here the technology was a closely guarded secret by those who had it.  
  
"I find it hard to belief too. Even Babylon 5 has to generate gravity by rotation and it is 8 kilometers long. Which brings me back to the topic at hand. I haven't been able to find much about the defenses of the station but it does have them and they are considered good enough to merit the deployment of that many ships. Although that could also be because of the two rebel Omega destroyers that are aiding the station. Their names are the Alexander and the Churchill."  
  
"Then the final point of discussion," said Walker, "is if we will launch our own fighters too and do we use our armour generators, our shields or both? Personally I say we don't launch the fighters, their weaponry might take a while to go through the shields of one of our main ships but a fighter doesn't have as much protection. As to the armour or shields question, I vote for using the shields only. Their weaponry is designed to defeat armour not an energy shield and even though our armour is a lot tougher then what they are using, I don't want to take chances."  
  
"I agree that we wont be needing the fighters and if we use the armour generator we would be using a technology they may not understand but a reliance on armour would be familiar to them. Relying on a shield would emphasis our power and it would give us something to fall back on." Santowitz always liked to intimidate his opponent as he considered it a good way to prevent a battle. "These people don't seem to be familiar with transporters either so we should keep the use of that restricted to emergencies only."   
  
Captain Tuvol and Walker agreed and with that the captains returned to their respective bridges to prepare their ships for the unknown.  
  


  
  


Lt. Corwin was nervous as he waited with the others for the forces of President Clark. Even the captain looked worried. Then an alarm rang on his console and he knew that it had started.  
  
"Jumpgate activated. Here they come."  
  
Out of the blue vortex a fleet of two Hyperions and two Omega's appeared escorted by several Thunderbolts and accompanied by a breaching pod.  
  
"This is captain Dexter Smith of the Earth Alliance destroyer Agrippa to Babylon 5 and renegade ships. You are ordered to surrender your command and prepare to be boarded. This is your only warning. If you do not surrender we will be forced to initiate deadly force."  
  
The Alexander and Churchill didn't wait but were already launching their fighters while captain Sheridan now tried to dissuade Smith from following his orders.  
  
But captain Smith ignored him and Sheridan ordered his Starfuries to move in but not to fire the first shot.  
"Let them fire first. We won't start this fight but by God we will finish it."  
  
Captain Smith was a loyal member of Earth force and believed in the policies of President Clark. These traitors had the audacity to claim that they were the ones that were doing the right thing even though they openly revolted against their democratically elected president!  
  
"This is captain Smith to all ships. I expect you all to do your duty and fight for Earth. The fighters will protect the breaching pod while the capital ships will take care of the renegade destroyers."  
  
Now the battle began as their fighters fired first which was answered by pulse cannon fire from the rebel fighters. Now the destroyers began to fire their heavy pulse cannons at the enemy destroyers but the interceptors of the Roanoke stopped them all and now the Agrippa fired its particle/laser at the Alexander.  
  
The Hyperions both concentrated on the Churchill which gave as good as she got while all around fighters fought and exploded as they encountered their colleagues, the station or the ships. Babylon 5 too now joined in and destroyed enemy fighters left and right as they approached the station.  
  
"Sir, the breaching pod made it."  
Good, everything went as planned although he had to admit that they had given a better fight then he expected. The Hyperions were now retreating after sustaining heavy damage from the Churchill but that ship wasn't in great shape either. Flames were coming out of several large holes and its power was dropping rapidly.  
  
"Sir, the Churchill is on a ramming course for the Roanoke, they can't evade!"  
  
Major Ryan had noticed the state of the battered ship as well. "Hiroshi, get out of there, get to the lifepods!"  
  
"Too late to get out." Her voice was a bit garbled as the damaged communications system struggled to do its job. "Our primary systems are down, we got fire on all decks. There is nothing we can do, except...."   
  
He didn't like the resignation he heard in that final part of the message. "Hiroshi, Hirsoshi!"  
  
The flaming ship was nearing the Roanoke now, it would hit the ship between the habitation ring and the head of the ship.   
  
But it didn't and the reason for that took everybody by surprise. A white ship had appeared above the Churchill, its main body was saucer shaped and looked rather small in comparison with the Churchill, and it kept the ship in place by emitting a strange bluish light from its belly. Another ship had appeared in front of the Roanoke and this tiny ship was also grey-white but had a more boxy appearance and unlike the other ship it had no windows.  
  
A third one that was bigger then the first appeared to the left of the Agrippa and this one too had an awful lot of windows and a very sleek design.  
  
All of them however looked like nothing anybody had seen or heard from before and both ships were momentarily stunned as the saucer ship hovering above the massive destroyer now began to move the Churchill away from the Roanoke. Even many of the fighter pilots forgot to keep fighting or look were they were going.  
  
Commander Ivanova collided with another Starfury and had to eject from heir spinning fighter seconds before it collided with the Agrippa. Perhaps it was this thud that snapped captain Smith mind back to his surroundings or perhaps it was simple coincidence.  
  
But there were still a lot of questions running through his mind, the most important one was who were they closely followed by the question: what were they doing here?  
  
"Sir, the ship on our left is hailing us."  
  
"Put it on screen."  
  
On screen appeared a bridge that was rather roomy for a ship that small. It was shocking to see that most of the crew was human but not all of them. The man on the right of what appeared to be the captains' seat was blue and had antennae that were moving around! And in the back he could see a person with his back to the screen monitoring a console. If his eyes weren't playing tricks on him he could have sworn that he could see the man's brain!  
  
"This is captain Peter Walker of the Federation starship USS Odyssey. We hereby acknowledge Babylon 5's independence and promise to protect it. The forces loyal to President Clark will cease hostilities and leave the area or we will remove you by force."  
  
He looked very serious but his ships were far too small and fragile to pose any real threat. Still, there was the fact that they had appeared out of thin air. "What can you tell me of their capabilities?"  
  
"Most of my scans are being blocked by some kind of energy field and the rest is distorted. I can only find 7 of what I think are missile tubes, nothing else but the power readings I can get are at least ten times higher then us."  
  
With reinforcements coming through the gate any moment now this threat was laughable. "Hail them."  
  
"Channel open."  
  
"This is captain Dexter Smith of the Earth Alliance destroyer Agrippa, Babylon 5 and those rebel destroyers are Earth force property. You have no authority here, leave or be destroyed!"  
  
There, they could do it with that and they would probably run now that he had called their bluff but it would be best to make sure. "Tell Red squadron to attack the ship on our right flank and let Blue take care of the one towing the Churchill. The Roanoke can blast that tiny ship out of the way as they close in on the Alexander. We will assist them but just to be certain, give Red squadron support fire with our pulse cannons."  
  
Captain Sheridan too had received the message and was wondering why they had chosen to help and what kind of help they expected to be able to give? He too had scanned the ships and was equally unimpressed by what he got back although those power readings were rather high for a ship that size. Judging from the reply that Smith gave he had made the same assessment of their capabilities.  
  
After the reply from Smith the Thunderchild released the Churchill and let it drift further away on its own momentum since its engines had died a few moments before. The Agrippa now moved to attack the Alexander as did the Roanoke. The first one fired its pulse cannons at the Odyssey but instead of hitting the ship an energy shield flared up absorbing the pulses.  
  
"Shields are holding," his tactical officer reported.  
  
"If they wont listen, then we will just have to convince them through our actions. Target their engines and weapons, but leave two of their engines working. Helm, one half impulse on a parallel trajectory with the Agrippa."  
  
Smith was concentrating on the actions of the Alexander when his ship suddenly shuddered and the lighting flickered. While his ship shuddered again, he asked: "What is happening?"  
  
"The Odyssey is firing some kind of energy beam at us. They have already taken out 2 of our engines and a pulse cannon." The ship shuddered again. "That was one of the aft particle/lasers, they are slicing through our armour as if its made out of wet paper."  
  
"Did you hit them and what is the status of the Roanoke?"  
  
"They are getting hammered by the two other ships, they won't last much longer. Our own weapons fire is being blocked by an energy shield and is having no effect."  
  
The Roanoke was indeed in even bigger problems. It had moved forward and fired one of its particle/lasers at the Salvador but its shield had protected it too although the beam did cause a drop in shield strength. The Salvador had retaliated by firing an energy beam at the left particle/laser while accelerating to .16c in a matter of seconds. The Thunderchild too pitched in and began to use its energy beam to slice through the Roanoke's engines and then proceeded to take out its weapons.  
  
All of them simply ignored the fighters and when Red squadron did try to attack the Odyssey, two of them came too close and were swatted like bugs on a windshield.  
  
Captain Dexter Smith saw his victory slip through his hands like sand as his ship continued to shudder as his ship was dissected with surgical precision without the ability to do much about it. It was made even worse by the fact that the Alexander now too was firing on his ship, causing much damage. Then hope flared up when his first officer told him that the jumpgate was being activated.  
  
"This is captain Drake to...."  
Captain Drake had expected to see a rebel force loosing the battle but not this. The Alexander and a strange white ship were pounding the Agrippa while it tried in vain to defend itself. The Roanoke was in even worse shape. It had almost no functioning heavy weaponry left and a small ship the size of a gunboat was now firing an energy beam into the remaining two engines of the destroyer which then died and it began to drift with lifepods coming out of the tumbling ship.   
  
"Captain Drake to all ships, fire on that white ship attacking the Agrippa."  
  
The two Omega destroyers and one Hyperion opened fire with their particle/lasers on the ship that was now turning to face them. It did that move very gracefully even when the weapons hit her. Two of the beams hit and one missed but captain Drake was amazed as those two beams were stopped by an energy shield. The ship now advanced on them at a speed that was faster then any human ship could go. "Ready fusion missiles and fire on my command. Fire."  
  
As the two missiles raced towards the little ship, his sensor operator came with more bad news.  
  
"Four jumppoints are opening. There are ships coming out of them, they are Minbari!"  
  
Delenn had worried that she may not reach the station in time, but the sight that greeted her when they came into normal space was certainly unexpected. They were just in time to see how 2 missiles impacted an alien ship causing a massive explosion that momentarily blinded everybody.  
  
It was an even greater shock when the ship came out of the explosion unscathed although it did decelerate. Apparently she wasn't the only one to come to the defense of Babylon 5 but who were they? Never mind, it could wait until later.  
  
"This is ambassador Delenn of the Minbari. Babylon 5 is under our protection. Withdraw or be destroyed."  
  
Captain Smith was ready to retreat, he had seen how ineffective their weapons were against these federation ships and now they would have to face the Minbari as well! Unfortunately, captain Drake didn't see it that way perhaps because he still had an intact ship. "Negative, we have authority here. Do not force us to engage your ships."  
  
As Drake gave his reply the Federation ships regrouped between the station and the Earth Alliance ships and were facing them.  
  
"Why not?" asked Delenn. "Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me, you are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else."  
  
This had gone far enough, thought Smith. President Clark certainly didn't want another Minbari war.  
"This is captain Dexter Smith, we will withdraw."  
  
The other ships obeyed and they formed a jumppoint but the Agrippa had to limp to the jumpgate, which would take at least fifteen minutes before he would be able to leave. Oh, how humiliating. He was grateful that he could blame this fiasco at least partially on overwhelming force but would it be enough to save his career?   
  
Relief swept through Babylon CnC when they left although there was still some concern as to whom these new ships belonged to and why they had helped. That was one reason why Delenn contacted Sheridan, other then to see if he was alright. He looked fine although he did have a superficial head wound.  
  
"John, where did those three ships come from?"  
  
"Delenn, I have absolutely no idea."  
  
TBC  
  
Author's notes: The opinions about how powerful Babylon 5 ships are compared to those of Star Trek vary but I myself believe that Earth Alliance ships are far less powerful the Federation ships and this chapter reflects that. However, Earth Alliance ships are the least powerful ships in the Babylon 5 universe at this moment in time but other races have better ships. Not to mention the fact that Earth Force and President Clark will undoubtedly push for better ships and weapons after this loss.  
  
I would like to thank everybody about posting such positive reviews. It is really flattering to see how the first story I have ever written is so well received. But constructive criticism would also be appreciated as well as suggestions. It has been years since I saw Babylon 5 so I have to rely on memory and Lurker's episode guide mostly to know how events would have gone. This means that I might make a few mistakes about the characters of the Babylon 5 universe and if you spot them let me know. 


	5. Who are you?

Who are you?  
  
The area around Babylon 5 was littered with debris, lifepods, pilots that had to eject from their fighters and two heavily damaged Omega class destroyers. But there were still functional ships around Babylon 5. One Omega class destroyer, three Sharlin class warcruisers, one Whitestar and three ships from the United Federation of Planets. Those three ships were grouped together facing the Minbari ships and both sides watched each other wearily.  
  
"To what race do these ships belong?" asked Delenn to her scanner operator.  
"Their design and technology are inconsistent with any race on file however all three of them have human writing on their hull. It appears to be the names of the ships. Most of our scans are being blocked but they are not scanning us."  
  
"Contact them, I want to talk to them."  
"They are already hailing us and Babylon 5."  
  
"Captain, those alien ships are hailing us, audio only."  
"Put it on."  
  
"This is captain Walker to Babylon 5, there are still a lot of survivors out there that need to be picked up. May we offer you our assistance?"  
  
Sheridan hesitated only for a moment. "Actually I was about to ask you for some help with that. We would appreciate your help captain."  
  
Now the voice of a female could be heard, "I will launch shuttles and start picking up lifepods and pilots. Do you want to take custody of the enemy troops or shall we hold on to them until they can be returned?"  
  
"We can only detain so many people", said Sheridan, "if you can detain some of them for us, that would be better."  
  
"I will launch my shuttles too, Odyssey out."  
  
"I will retrieve the Churchill and Roanoke," began captain Santowitz, "I will position them next to the station but away from the jumpgate. Salvador out."  
  
Sheridan could now see how small shuttles with blue glowing pods began leaving the larger ships while the Salvador quickly moved to the damaged Roanoke and started to tow it to the station. Those blue glowing pods must be their engines but on what principle did they work? It didn't look like any gravimetric drive he had ever heard of nor like any other propulsion system. And how could they have left hyperspace without opening a jumppoint, unless they used the same technology as the Shadows. Now that was a troubling thought.  
  
Meanwhile the captains of the Thunderchild and the Odyssey were discussing logistics.  
"My sickbay is already filled by the survivors we picked up from the Churchill, but I can detain half of the Earth Alliance personnel by emptying one of the cargo bays and secure it with forcefields and security guards."  
  
"Good idea, Thalev see to it that cargo bay 2 is emptied and readied to receive prisoners. My sickbay can take in the wounded, but we have also begun to beam the critically wounded to sickbay. Those Minbari ships are scanning us but they are not getting much. Our own passive scans are being distorted by some kind of active jamming. So far all we can tell is that they use a gravimetric drive and have crystalline armour. The smaller one is slightly different, it has bioarmour."  
  
"I got the same results, but the transmission came from the smaller ship so that ship must simply be their latest design."  
  


  


  
Captain Sheridan was waiting at customs to welcome Delenn. He wasn't wearing his uniform and he wasn't planning on wearing it until this was all over. Left and right were lines of Nightwatch waiting to leave the station, they were certain they hadn't gotten everybody but Garibaldi was working on it. Then there were these Federation ships that had lend a hand in the battle. He would sure like to know why they had helped but more importantly where did humans get that technology from?  
  
"Hello, John."  
  
"Delenn."  
  
John then hesitated, looked back at Garibaldi and pulled her aside to get some privacy.  
"Listen, I have been trying to think of someway to tell you how much what you did means to me. Those strange ships helped too, I know, but thank you still seems to be poor and inadequate. I don't know how much this cost you personally and I suspect I never will, but I want you to know that seeing your face at that moment was probably the single finest moment in my live."  
  
"It seems that this is the only home we have left. How could I abandon, as you say, my partner?"  
Delenn extended her hand and John shook it then kissed it.  
  
It was at that time that Ivanova cleared her throat.  
Sheridan looked at Ivanova. "Oh, there you are. So how is she, doc?"  
"Well we have a stubborn patient, multiple bruises, a fractured rib and a hump on the back of her head you wouldn't believe."  
  
"I am fine. We are finished with picking up the ejected pilots and lifepods and the damaged destroyers are now secured. Those strange ships helped a lot and we are now almost finished with clearing the rest of the debris so we will be back in business in an hour. I heard they are sending two shuttles over now to meet us face to face?"  
  
"Yes, they should arrive in 10 minutes so let's go there and I will fill you in about what I saw when they made their first transmission telling Clark's forces to leave. I saw a crew composed mostly out of humans but I could also see at least two aliens belonging to races I haven't seen before. Their captain is human and the ship has artificial gravity. This captain Walker identified his ship as belonging to something called the Federation. They also don't seem to be using a jumppoint to move to hyperspace. That is about it, except that their ships are vastly superior to Earth Alliance ships and are probably equal to a Minbari warcruiser."  
  
That made Delenn frown, after all they were the most advanced among the younger races. Only those races that were allied to the Shadows had access to comparable technology but none of them would want to help Babylon 5. Would they?  
  
Garibaldi had another question. "But where did they come from? I have never heard of the Federation and I can't see how a group of humans ended up so far from Earth not to mention developing technologies as advanced as the ones you are talking about."  
  
They were just in time to see how the shuttles landed on their engines and bellies. The occupants had to wait as the cargo bay was pressurized. The ride to the station had been quite amazing and Doctor Joe had taken had take several snapshots with his holographic camera. He knew that captain Tuvol had only brought lieutenant Duval with her while he had brought his chief science officer and his medical hologram with him.  
  
He had been following the news about Voyager and was very impressed by the Voyager Doctor. He had even talked with him after Voyager got back and he had decided that he would get one of the EMH Mark I reprogrammed again to be a doctor. It took a bit of lobbying but he managed to convince starfleet to give at least one of them a new chance to do what they were meant to do. His holomatrix was updated and expanded so that he would be able to work full time instead of being a mere supplement. He had spent two months under the tutelage of the Voyager doctor and he had gotten from him as a parting gift, one 29th century mobile emitter.  
  
He had even chosen a name for himself and so far he had performed very well although he had also copied that rather annoying hobby of the Voyager doctor to take pictures of everything. The pressurization was now complete and he could see the welcome party entering the bay as the shuttle door opened. "Doctor, I think it would be best if you leave the camera here, you only have two hands."  
  
First out of the shuttles came a man, who Sheridan identified as captain Walker. The next one was a middle aged man that was bald on top carrying a hard-cased shoulder bag followed by a woman with brown hear and pointed ears. They all wore a black uniform with a broad grey band across the shoulders and a different colored shirt underneath. They all had a insignia on the left breast shaped like a silver arrowhead on a gold colored rectangle. The captain wore a red shirt and had 4 pips pinned on the shirt, while the man carrying the bag wore a green-blue shirt and no pips and the woman wore a blue shirt with two pips and had a little grey box in a pouch on her left hip.  
  
Two joined them from the other shuttle. They wore the same uniform but the man had a yellow shirt and had two gold colored pips and a black one while the woman was dressed like captain Walker. It was he who began the introductions. "Greetings, I am captain Peter Walker of the Federation starship USS Odyssey and this is my Chief science officer lieutenant T'nal", at the mentioning of her name she bowed slightly, "and my medical officer Doctor Joe."  
  
"Nice to meet you."  
  
Now the female captain spoke. "I am captain Tuvol of the Federation starship USS Thunderchild. I have brought with me Lieutenant commander Duval, chief of security." At that Duval nodded.  
  
He didn't seem to carry any weapons on but he was probably there because of the same reason as the two security guards were there. You never knew what would happen. Now, captain Sheridan began to introduce the members of his party and he was about to suggest that they would continue the meeting in the conference room that was prepared when their medical officer interrupted him.  
  
Pointing at Garibaldi he asked: "Why is that man walking around with broken bones, shouldn't you heal them first before you let him run around the station? May I, captain?"  
  
Walker thought about it for a second and then gave him permission.  
  
The doctor placed his shoulder bag on the ground and pulled out a box like the one that T'nal was wearing. He clapped it open and moved towards mister Garibaldi who backed away slightly.  
  
"This is a medical tricorder, a diagnostic tool to determine your health."  
  
Captain Sheridan was intrigued and silently encouraged Garibaldi to let the doctor proceed. The doctor moved the tricorder over his chest several times and then gave him the diagnosis. "Apart from a fractured arm and leg, you also have several concussions and some slight liver damage. It was a smart move of you to stop drinking."  
  
That temporarily stunned Garibaldi and the doctor proceeded with retrieving a device from the medkit.  
  
"This is a osteogenic stimulator that I will use to heal your bones. It would help if you stay still while I do that."  
  
Again he simply moved the device across the areas where the broken bones were and then announced: "Finished, you can remove the sling and the cast now."  
  
Garibaldi looked at Franklin now who had already pulled out his scanner and after a few moments looked amazed at Joe, then his scanner. "He is right, the bones are as good as new. It is as if they were never broken!"  
  
"Well, it will take another day or two before the bones are back at full strength but doctor Franklin is correct. Now, shall I remove those cuts and bruises too?"  
  
"Yes, by all means," answered Franklin before Garibaldi could agree.  
  
After treating Garibaldi, the doctor turned to captain Sheridan and healed his cut too.  
  
"Amazing, simply amazing," said Franklin before firing of a volley of questions about how those devices worked.  
  
"I am happy to answer your questions, but let's first go to your sickbay. I came along primarily to help with your wounded, as I understand that you have quite a lot of them at the moment. I have another medkit in the shuttle, I'll grab it and then you can show me your sickbay."  
  
Captain Tuvol ordered Duval to accompany the doctor to ensure his safety.  
  
After retrieving the medkit the two left the cargo bay discussing medical technology all the way followed closely by Duval. The others looked on in amazement until captain Sheridan remembered what he wanted to say before the interruption. He didn't even feel an itch or anything, the cut had healed perfectly.  
  
"Welcome to Babylon 5, I was about to suggest that we talk further in the conference room."  
  
"Lead the way."  
  


  


  
After they all had taken a seat, captain Walker began with answering some of the questions he knew they must have.  
  
"You are probably wondering who we are and how we got here." He didn't wait for them to confirm his suspicion but pressed on. "We are from the United Federation of Planets and we got here by accident. We were on our way to starbase 345 when we encountered a spatial anomaly that caused our ships to quantum shift to this part of space. We quickly discovered that we were so far from home that we would never reach it in our lifetime. We decided that we would explore this region in the hopes of finding a way home and you can imagine our amazement when we found out that there were humans here."  
  
"So you are from a lost colony or something like that? I find that hard to believe since we don't have any lost colonies that I heard of, not to mention the fact that you seem to have some very advanced technology that would take centuries to develop."  
  
He had hoped that they would take the story he had just given and move on to other issues but now they were asked directly where they came from. Walker had studied Garibaldi as he spoke and he could tell that their cover story wouldn't fool him for long if at all. He leaned over to Tuvol and whispered: "I don't think he will believe our cover story, I am afraid we will have to use the truth."  
  
"I agree, he seems very suspicious."  
  
He sat up again and continued: "No, mister Garibaldi we do not come from a lost colony. When we were engulfed by the anomaly we were not only dragged from our own space, but also from our own time and quantum reality. In short, we are from another universe."  
  
He could see the disbelieving looks on their faces. "We knew you would find it hard to believe but I was born on Earth in the year 2343 and apart from the humans, my crew is comprised completely out of races that cannot be found in this universe. Captain Tuvol here is a good example of that."  
  
Sheridan still looked like he doubted the whole story but did ask: "So what species are you from, captain Tuvol?"  
  
"I am a Vulcan and we are telling the truth."  
  
"I have never heard of anything like this happening before, but then again this is Babylon 5. My next question would be why did you come to our aid?"  
  
"We have been here for more then a week now, observing the situation. Because the sol system in this universe was identical to our own, we decided that earth was as good a place to start looking as any other. But when we adapted our communications system to work with tachyons we were shocked to find humans. The next shock was the political situation it was in, with a president fast turning into a fascist dictator and a civil war about to erupt we knew that we had to act or leave."  
  
"After careful deliberations captain Walker, Santowitz and I decided that it would be best to stay here and aid your station. We do not agree with the policies of the current Earth government and none of the other races would have welcomed us or we wouldn't be able to trust them."  
  
"Best for whom?" asked Garibaldi.  
  
"Best for us and best for you, but if you disagree with that assumption and ask us to leave then we will leave."  
  
Only now did Sheridan notice that Tuvol hadn't shown any emotions at all. She had remained cool and rational the entire time.  
  
He wanted to ask a lot more but time was a luxury he didn't have at the moment. "You have given me a lot to think about but I have a station to run so I am afraid that I will have to postpone this meeting until things have returned to what is considered normal on this station."  
  
"Of course, we understand. And we ask from all of you not to tell anybody except doctor Franklin about where we came from. Just say that we came from very far away, it would be true in a way. Oh, I almost forgot. We managed to save several persons from the Churchill, among them was a captain Hiroshi. She should be fine in a couple of days, so why don't we hold the next meeting on the Odyssey and then I can give you a tour of the ship as well."  
  
They had succeeded in stunning him and the others once again.  
  
"I see that we have a lot of things to talk about." How had they been able to get them out of that burning ship? "That captain Hiroshi has survived is good news, especially for the fighter pilots from the Churchill. But why can we tell Franklin about your origins but nobody else?"  
  
"If I know the doctor, he might have already told him and if he hasn't it wouldn't take long before he did. Plus, you trusted him enough to be there when you met us."  
  
They walked them back to their shuttles, were they were joined by doctor Joe and Lt. Commander Duval. They got into their respective shuttles and left once they got clearance.  
  
"So how did things go in Medlab, doc?"  
  
"In one word amazing. That tricorder is as good as anything I have in the lab and he had severely injured people walking out of Medlab in a manner of minutes! I already got an invitation to visit their sickbay whenever I want and he gave me one of his osteogenic stimulators and a dermal regenerator."  
  
"We got an invitation too, but they also told us where they came from. They say that they are from another universe."  
  
Franklin looked as disbelieving as they had done and Sheridan now turned to Delenn. "You were very quiet during the meeting, what did you think of them?"  
  
"They seemed to be honest even though their story was outlandish. And neither the Federation nor these Vulcans sound familiar so either they are from very far away but still from our universe, which would make it puzzling that so much of their crew is human or they are indeed telling the truth. It would explain their technology and the unknown alien races. And did you notice that he said that they had to modify their equipment to use tachyons? Wherever they came from, they don't use tachyons for communications."  
  
"This could still all be a very clever deception. They could count on us to believe their story exactly because it seems so unbelievable."  
  
"Only time will tell whether they speak the truth or not."  
  
TBC 


	6. What do you want?

Author's notes: I had thought that I could squeeze this tidbit of information into the story somewhere but the opportunity hasn't come up yet. The _Thunderchild_ is an Akira class starship that was also briefly seen in ST: First Contact when the borg cube attacked earth.  
Furthermore, photon torpedoes can travel at warp when the ship that launches it is at warp. If the ship travels at impulse then the torpedo will also travel at impulse although it will have a higher speed then the ship.  
As for the ability of Vorlon and Shadow armour to dissipate energy, thanks for reminding me, but I seriously doubt that it is infinite so their armour could weaken the phaser beam significantly but certainly not completely. That this ability has limits is also proven by the fact that a 500 megaton explosion could destroy several shadow ships including at least one battlecrab.  
Now on with the story.

Chapter 6  
What do you want?

It took a few days before things on the station had calmed down enough for, with the kidnapping of Delenn and the captain of the Minbari fleet around Babylon 5. Delenn had been injured but she was already fit enough to be able to come to the Odyssey and she had decided to bring captain Lenann with her.

"Yes, ambassador Mollari, I understand. As I said we will be offering you and the other ambassadors a tour of my ship after we have clarified some issues with Babylon 5. Only after this can we even talk about trading technology, but I am sorry to say that your governments actions are not helping your case."

Almost all the ambassadors were clamoring to talk about buying our technology or to find out what the Federation wanted in this region. Except for ambassador Kosh, but from what he had heard it would have been more surprising if he had shown interest. He had given them all the same answer.

"And who are you to criticize the actions of the Centauri Republic, captain Walker? We are merely retrieving what was once ours. Now when will you start with the, as you humans say, five cent tours?"

"In a few days and I can assure you that you will be with the first group, Walker out."

He cut of communications before the ambassador could answer, he had discussed with the other captains what they would ask for and give in return, but there was no certainty that captain Sheridan would accept their offer. And then there was the issue of trust. The last couple of days, the doctor had made regular visits to Medlab to help and each time he had given a few medical devices to them. He had authorized him to talk about their medical technology and in return he had gotten a lot of data on the species from this universe.

There were a few surprises in that data. Careful analysis had shown that there was a slight genetic difference between humans from their dimension and this dimension. Doctor Koram believed that it's this difference that explains why a certain percentage of the human population had psychic abilities while no human from their own universe had them.

Captain Hiroshi had been discharged from sickbay this morning and had been flown to the _Odyssey_ along with Captain Tuvol. The captain was surprised to learn that we had managed to save 127 of her crew but that still meant that several hundred members of her crew had died. She would be given a tour of the ship along with captain Sheridan, commander Ivanova, ambassador Delenn and captain Lenann. Doctor Franklin would be coming too but he would be going straight to sickbay.

He had decided that Thalev would do the tour instead of him, sometimes it was good to be the captain.

The shuttle flight from the station to the _Odyssey_ alone was an experience. Their tractor beam had pulled them in very smoothly but their was also amazement as they saw how the hangar door opened revealing people working on shuttles and what appeared to be fighters without any protection! Only when they passed the forcefield did realization dawn as to why they didn't need protective gear.

Artificial gravity kicked in immediately after they had passed the forcefield and moments later the shuttle landed on the deck. Waiting for them was doctor Joe and some alien wearing the same uniform as the captain but he had three gold pips on his collar instead of four.

'This is a strange ship,' captain Lenann thought to himself, 'he had looked carefully as they entered the bay and the hull wasn't thicker then a meter! They must be relying solely on that energy shield for protection. The proof that they had mastered this technology was behind him, the only thing protecting him from the vacuum of space.'

After they had all stepped out a human and a blue alien with antennae approached them. The human immediately began to talk to doctor Franklin and they both left the shuttlebay even while the alien was still introducing himself.

"Greetings, I am commander Thalev and I will be your guide for this morning. Our first stop will be Astrometric lab where we will be joined by captain Hiroshi."

As the group followed him, captain Sheridan asked some questions. "Where is captain Walker?"

"In a meeting with the other captains."

"I see, by the way, what species are you from?"

"I am an Andorian."

They had now reached a lift and they all entered.

"Deck 16."

Captain Lenann had listened and watched as they had made their way to this Astrometrics lab. Most of the crew seemed to be human but there were some very strange aliens on board as well and they all seemed to work together. The interior itself looked like its exterior, clean and bright. Nothing like any human design he knew about.

They now entered a room featuring a very big viewscreen with 3 consoles in front of it arranged in a circle. Both walls had more consoles, on the viewscreen itself was a map of almost the entire known region of space. Captain Hiroshi had waited for them outside and looked healthy and not all as if she had been rescued from a burning ship.

"This is the astrometrics lab that we use for navigation and mapping. The astrometrics sensors use the stars to navigate by measuring the radiative flux of up to three billion stars simultaneously, and the computer then calculates our position relative to the center of the galaxy."

That raised a few eyebrows.

"Our normal sensors only have a reach of seventeen lightyears on medium or low resolution and even shorter if you want a high resolution scan but they are very accurate. Shall we move on?"

They were shown several different labs, the bridge and finally engineering, where they were shown what they called a warpcore but what was really just an antimatter reactor. They did use a strange way of regulating the reaction that Lenann hadn't heard of before, dilithium crystals. "So this reactor provides all your power?"

"No, it does provide the majority of our energy needs but we still need a few fusion reactors to provide additional power. Our impulse engines too have their own fusion reactors providing them with the power they need. At the moment the warpcore for example produces twelve million seven hundred and fifty thousand terawatts but we are not using any of the power hungry system at the moment."

'No wonder the earth ships lost!' Where did they come from that they needed that amount of power?

Then the insignia of commander Thalev beeped and he tapped it. "Thalev here."

"Commander, the captain wants to let you know that they are ready to begin the negotiations and wants you to bring our guests to Conference Room 2."

"Understood, Thalev out." And he tapped his insignia again. So it wasn't just some kind of useless decoration but a functional tool.

"Ambassador Delenn, captain Lenann, you are welcome to stay here and wait in 9 aft or we can arrange for you to be brought back to Babylon 5 or the Minbari ship."

"I will stay and see more of the ship," said Delenn.

"Well, there is something called a holodeck that you might be interested in. I will be happy to show it, after I have brought the others to the captains. Captain Lennan will you be joining us?"

"No, I have a ship to command, a good day."

The conference room was spacious and had a large table with six chairs on each side. The three captains were seated on one side, behind them the Epsilon 3 could be seen from a row of windows. Captain Walker was seated in the middle with captain Tuvol on his right and what must be captain Santowitz on his left. Captain Walker began as soon as they were seated.

"Welcome to the USS _Odyssey_. So what did you think of her?"

"It's..." Captain Sheridan seemed to be looking for words. "It's like nothing I have ever seen, in one word amazing."

"Thanks, but you haven't seen everything yet." Now all three of them looked at him questionably, wondering what more they had. "But I wanted you to get an idea of what we have so that you can better appreciate our offer."

"What precisely is your offer?"

"I think it would be best to see what we want first. We don't need much and can offer a lot in return. There are three things that we want."

"First, we want all your data on hyperspace technology and the properties of hyperspace itself. We have never encountered it before and are very intrigued. Second, we want to exchange medical technology and information. We both know that doctor Franklin and doctor Joe have already begun to do so but we want to know a lot more. Third, we want your permission to park an asteroid near Babylon 5 and establish a presence there."

"What are you using to move between star systems if it isn't hyperspace and what exactly do you mean with presence?"

Captain Tuvol answered that question. "We use warp propulsion to travel faster then light, but that works on entirely different principles then what you use. As for the asteroid, we plan to hollow it out so that we can repair and refit our ships there as well as housing part of our crew on the asteroid. When we got caught in the anomaly we were transporting several hundred crewmembers to starbase 345. We would also use the asteroid to house several industrial replicators, an antimatter generator and a few research labs. We will of course equip it with defenses and position it some distance away from the station so as not to interfere with the traffic around the station."

"As for what we offer for this in return." Captain Walker took over. "We will pledge to protect you from any attack and you can call on our help whenever you want as long as you don't ask us to fight against the Earth Alliance. We wont fight your civil war for you."

"We understand that you are having some problems with pirates or raiders as you call them." Now captain Santowitz spoke. "If you accept our offer, then the _Salvador_ will begin patrolling the surrounding systems to protect ships from these raiders."

"We will also give you some of our technologies," captain Tuvol hadn't been happy about that, if you could call a vulcan unhappy. But they had to make sure they accepted the deal and also ensure that Babylon 5 would survive. They wouldn't get shielding or phasers and they were after all a spacefaring race. "We can provide you with gravity plating to produce artificial gravity on your station as well as cover your station in polarized hull plating that would give your station better protection."

"There is one more thing but I am a bit thirsty, so I'll get something to drink first. Can I get any of you something?" asked captain Walker.

"Raktajino, extra sweet."

"Vulcan tea."

Captain Walker now looked at the others. "What do you want?"

"Coffee, if you have it." said captain Sheridan.

Captain Walker smilled. "Yes, we have coffee."

"Then I will take coffee too."

"You are not thirsty, captain Hiroshi?"

"Yes, actually I am. I'll take some coffee too."

Walker walked over to a computer console with an alcove underneath. Captain Sheridan assumed that he was going to tell the galley their order, instead captain Walker just summed up to the computer what he wanted.

Then a yellow light appeared in the alcove and in moments their drinks appeared on a tray. As he carried it to the table captain Sheridan and the rest were stunned and didn't move or speak while he passed around the drinks.

It wasn't until Walker took a sip of his jumja tea that Hiroshi asked the question that was on all three minds. "How?"

"That is a replicator. We use it to make food, clothing, small equipment parts and other small things. It works by dematerializing a quantity of stored matter, then a quantum geometry transformational matrix modifies the matter stream to what we want. The computer, which oversees the process, can use any available stored pattern. Once the matter stream has the right pattern, it is rematerialized into an almost perfect copy of the original patterned object. You see the replicator works on a molecular resolution so their will be flaws on the quantum level and there are those that say that replicated food tastes different. This one is a small unit but we want to lend you an industrial replicator that can be used to make larger items although you can't use it to make an entire starfury. But it would allow you to rely less on outside supplies, because I am certain that they will begin a blockade once they realize they won't be able to take Babylon 5 by force. Of course if we ever find a way home, we will be taking the replicator with us."

"This seems to be a rather generous deal." He frowned. "You said that the replicator uses stored matter, what kind of matter are we talking about?"

"Any matter would suffice, 82 percent of our waste for example is recycled and used in the replicators. The less molecular transformations are needed to create an item, the less energy it needs. We will equip the replicator with a forcefield and its own fusion reactor to make sure that nobody tampers with it."

"I see no problems holding up my end of the agreement and what you are offering is certainly worth more then what you are getting, I guess we have a deal."

"Excellent."

They walked to 9 aft where they and ambassador Delenn engaged in some small talk before they had to return to the station. Captain Hiroshi was going to the station also, eager to do something useful again.

TBC


	7. Raiders and traitors

Chapter 7  
Raiders and traitors

Somewhere in deep space  
It was the second day on patrol now, captain Santowitz had taken his defiant class starship out to patrol the area immediately. He had been sitting still for too long and he didn't waste time now that he could use his ship once more to do what it was meant to do, protect and defend those that couldn't defend themselves. These raiders used fragile fighters for the most part but even if they had been flying around in Omega class destroyers, Santowitz wouldn't have been worried.

"Sir, incoming distress signal from a freighter. They are being attacked by several raiders, distance 1.3 lightyears at bearing 310 by 290."

"Helm, lay in a course. Maximum Warp." Even at maximum warp it would still take several hours to reach them. Hopefully we can reach them in time.

6 hours later  
"We are entering The ship is still there, I am picking up 103 lifesigns but some of them are weak. 15 fighters are attacking the freighter, their hull is punctured in several places and only two of their engines are operational. "

"Shields up, open a channel to the freighter and raiders."

"Channel open."

"This is captain Santowitz of the Federation starship USS _Salvador_ to raiders, cease your attack or be destroyed!"

Apparently news of their fight with Earth Alliance hadn't spread far yet because instead of fleeing from the small ship that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, seven of the fighters broke of and vectored in to attack the _Salvador_. In response, the ship fired a phaser beam at one of the fighters just strong enough to disable it. Unfortunately when it got hit the pilot lost control and slammed into another one, causing a spectacular explosion and a rethinking of the raiders' strategy.

They had just been given an ultimatum by a confident captain, commanding a ship they had never heard of before that had simply appeared out of nowhere and had a greater weapons range then was thought possible. The raiders quickly changed course again, followed by their comrades that hadn't stopped attacking the freighter.

"Now they run, let's make sure they keep running. Disable another raider and then retrieve it." This time it worked and after a few minutes the fighter was sitting in their hangar bay and the raider was in custody. The ship now returned to the limping freighter and offered it a lift to Babylon 5.

As the _Salvador_ went to warp, towing the damaged freighter, captain Santowitz decided they would need another strategy because this one relied to much on the chance that his ship was close enough to help. He smiled to himself as he came up with just the right way to surprise those raiders.

3 hours earlier at Babylon 5  
Captain Hiroshi was currently running CnC as her ship was not much more then a pile of metal. She felt sorrow when she had seen the battered old girl floating in space. She hoped that after Clark had been thrown out of office, they would repair her and not scrap her.

But there were also a few positive notes, one of which was visible from the window. Even when it was at a complete stop it still looked like the _Odyssey_ was racing through space. The _Thunderchild_ was still towing the asteroid to the station with the help of her shuttles and runabouts. She had heard that they had already begun construction of its defenses and habitats.

Babylon 5 was also being changed. They had only now begun with the installment of the gravity plating and the polarized hull plating because it took some time to install the industrial replicator. They were also using it to manufacture all kinds of things from spare parts to new uniforms, like the one she was wearing now. The crews had also begun visiting the station, paying with gold and other precious metals although a lot of them seemed to be having problems with haggling.

She smiled as she remembered the coffee she had bought a few hours earlier at the Zocalo. The Federationists had begun renting food replicators and now you could buy something that tasted like real coffee. They had also begun to dispense food, clothing and medical care to down below. Not everybody was happy about that, but so far there weren't any incidents yet.

"Ma'am, jumpgate activated. It's an Omega class destroyer, their weapons are not active."

"This is the Earth Alliance destroyer Sparta to Babylon control, we are here to retrieve our people and the _Roanoke_. General Fontaine also wants to talk to the Federation captains."

"This is Babylon control, you can send general Fontaine to the USS _Odyssey_, captain Sheridan and the Federation captains will meet with you there."

A minute later a shuttle left the Sparta and made its way to the _Odyssey_. On board, besides the pilot, were general Arthur Fontaine and his aide colonel Suzy Carter looking out the window at the alien ship. Its sleek design was clearly conceived by an alien mind. He had studied the recordings from the encounter with that ship and he was amazed at its speed and the strength of that energy shield.

Earth Force needed that kind of technology and the humans on board clearly needed to come home. Intelligence believed that these humans came from some sort of lost colony located somewhere past the Rim. It was the only explanation for a human captain and crew on board those Federation ships, but why did they serve an alien government instead of giving this technology to their legitimate government, their own people? President Clark was right to act against those alien influences that were threatening to overpower humanity, here was a prime example of what could happen.

They had now reached their hangar bay, which was exposed to space without any kind of protection but a forcefield. After they had passed the forcefield they could feel the thug of gravity on their bodies as the shuttle landed smoothly. Waiting for them was a blue alien with antennae wearing a black and gray uniform.

'Why am I chosen to welcome the guests, again!' mused commander Thalev to himself. 'Of course the fact that he wasn't human would aggravate them, that would make it more likely for them to make a mistake and it would show that the aliens were an integral part of the crew. But would they get the message?' Two humans now stepped out of the shuttle while the pilot remained onboard.

"I am General Fontaine and this is my aide, Colonel Carter. We are here to talk with your captain and captain Sheridan."

"I am commander Thalev, if you would follow me to the conference room, that is where the captains are waiting."

As they made their way to the conference rooms, both EA officers noted that most personnel they encountered were human. General Fontaine would now carry out the other reason for his coming, finding out more about their technology. "So commander Thalev, maintaining that forcefield in the hangar bay and the artificial gravity must consume a lot of energy. How do you fit all those fusion reactors in such a small ship?"

"We don't."

Not the response he was looking for, it only told him that they didn't use fusion reactors solely on their ship but what else and did they use fusion reactors at all? The conversation went on like this until they reached the conference room. The general trying to get answers, the commander giving answers that only created more questions instead of answering the original one.

When they entered they saw that both captain Sheridan and commander Ivanova were seated on one side of the table while captain Walker and the female captain were seated at the head of the table where commander Thalev joined him. The EA officers took seats opposite to those traitors that had sold out to the Minbari and these Federationists. After the introductions were made, Captain Walker began the talks.

"There is no need to talk about the people we took prisoner during the fight over the station. We would be glad to hand them over to you and can guarantee that they were treated well."

"Babylon 5 doesn't have the resources to imprison that many people so we will give you ours as well."

General Fontaine hadn't thought that it would be a problem to get those people back but they were the least important reason for his being here. "That takes care of that. But Earth Force still demands that you return the Roanoke and the Churchill as well. It is Earth Force property, just like the station. We cannot allow you to keep an Omega class destroyer."

"The Churchill is a burned out wreck and the Roanoke isn't in much better condition. You can have Roanoke but the Churchill is ours."

This took the general and colonel by surprise, what use could they have for the Churchill? Fontaine was sure that they would have demanded to keep the Roanoke and give the Churchill back, but then again that would have been unacceptable while this offer was a bit better. The Churchill would need major repairs that couldn't be done at Babylon 5 before she was combat ready again. Although the Roanoke wasn't in great shape either, they would have to tow it back. "Agreed."

Now the general turned to the Federation officers that had been observing the talks. "That leaves your ships, captain Walker. They interfered with an internal Earth Alliance matter that they had no business with. Not to mention that all human colonies fall under Earth Dome, including yours. We humans need to stand together now against our enemies." Fontaine looked at a Minbari warcruiser that was just passing by when he finished that sentence.

The two Federation captains looked at each other. Walker motioned could respond Tuvol for both of them. "You assume that I am a human and that this is an internal affair. Both assumptions are wrong, I am a Vulcan and we recognized Babylon 5's independence thus making it an affair between two sovereign nations."

"Your an alien!" blurted Carte out while Fontaine just looked stunned at the woman, he had noticed the pointed ears but had thought it was some kind of genetic mutation. That meant that only one of these Federation officers was a human, time to change tactics and put some pressure on them.

"Your interference could be seen as a declaration of war and that would not be advisable. Earth is a lot stronger now then it ever was and currently controls no less then 14 systems and over 30 worlds! But then again, how do we know you speak for your government? Have you contacted them about your actions or asked for instructions? How do we even know that you yourselves aren't renegades on the run from your own government?" The vulcan kept that cool look she had since he entered the room, Walker seemed to be a bit angry about the accusation that they were traitors but he had seen the mocking smile of that Thalev alien when he mentioned that Earth had 14 systems. That was a bit disconcerting.

"We are out of contact with the Federation unfortunately, but as starfleet captains we do have the authority to make treaties or help others. Your accusations of us being some kind of rebels are ludicrous and I think you know that. As for declaring war, in the two hundred years that the Federation has existed, it has never started a war but it has never lost one either. You would do well not to threaten a nation of unknown size or capabilities, as I understand it that is what Earth got into so much trouble twenty years ago."

Now it was general Fontaine's turn to get angry, he had fought on the Line. "We weren't prepared then, but I can assure you that we are able to take on any threat now. And if you don't side with us then you are a traitor to Earth!"

This in turn angered captain Walker. He had risked his live countless times in the Dominion war to protect Earth. That it was his Earth and not this Earth didn't matter now. "I see that we are not getting anywhere, commander Thalev will bring you back to your shuttle. Goodbye!"

As soon as the door closed behind the EA officers, captain Walker slumped back in his chair. "That went well."

"Indeed, but I don't think it could have gone better. They are obviously after our technology but at the same time they have misjudged our capabilities."

"Yes, they thought that 14 systems would actually impress us." Walker shook his head.

"How many systems are in the Federation anyway?" asked Ivanova.

"The Federation currently has 153 members and 1.234 colony planets," stated Tuvol.

More then a thousand planets, no wonder they were capable of building ships like this one. Sheridan wanted to learn more about this Federation to see if they spoke the truth. "You said that the Federation was founded over 200 years ago, by whom?"

"The Federation was formed by Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites and us Humans in 2161. Humans had only been exploring the stars for a hundred years at that moment but we donated all of our ships to the Federation when it was formed. That is part of the reason why Starfleet, the organization with the task of exploring space and defending the Federation, has so many humans in it. Starfleet headquarters, the Federation counsel and the office of the President are all located on Earth."

As the shuttle made its way back to the Sparta, General Fontaine turned to his aide. "What did you think of their ship?"

"It was definitely different, too bad we couldn't find out more about their ships capacities or the location of this Federation."

He hadn't even bothered to ask for the latter directly. He had hoped they would give a clue of their location or size if he pushed them but he didn't get much. Only that the Federation might be as big as the Earth Alliance or even slightly bigger. An assumption based on the facial reaction of one of the Federationists. And that it was very far away if they couldn't contact their homes, unless they lied about that.

The only good thing he could see was that they couldn't have many of those ships. The costs of building one must be incredible and he had seen how two fusion missiles stopped it dead in its tracks. The blockade that president Clark had initiated would slowly choke Babylon 5 to death and perhaps give them a chance to capture one of those ships if they left the safety of the station and its Minbari protectors.

The Minbari! He would never forget what does Minbari dogs had almost done to his world and he would do what ever was necessary to make sure it would never happen again.

TBC


	8. Plans and counterplans

**Plans and Counterplans  
  
****Zocallo  
**The Federation captains were sitting at a table watching the stream of people pass by. There were a lot of humans but the rest was a parade of races Starfleet had never encountered before. Captain Santowitz had arrived only minutes after the Sparta had left and he had brought with him a raiderpilot and one fighter that was completely useless. Even at one percent power the power core was completely melted and the resulting power surge had completely wiped the computer. The raider himself wasn't talking yet, but that could still change.

"So, why did you want to meet here?" Walker had already explained his reasons to Tuvol and had agreed. "It's not exactly secure."

"Because I haven't had the time to see the station like this and what we want to discuss isn't something that needs to remain a closely guarded secret. Unless you have something that needs to remain between the three of us?"

Santowitz leaned back and gave that half smile again. "No, in fact it might help if word got out about what I have in store for these raiders."

"Maybe you want to hear our news first, we met with some Earth Alliance representatives."

"What happened?"

Captain Tuvol told what happened. "They demanded that we gave them our technology and reacted very emotional to our refusal of their demands. Suffice it to say that both parties now know that they do not agree with each other on a number of topics. They seemed to be quite shocked when they learned that I was a Vulcan and seemed to think that the Federation was preparing an invasion."

Santowitz just shook his head. "So no hope for getting them to leave this station or us alone?"

"No, so I would be careful out there," warned Walker. "One on one their ships are no match for ours but six to one would already improve their chances significantly."

"I'll be careful, dad. So what's the status of Deep Space Babylon?"

Tuvol raised an eyebrow but Walker answered. "We haven't thought of a name for our station, have we? I am assuming that you are referring to the big rock Tuvol here is towing to the station. I think I will ask my crew for additional suggestions, but so far we are on schedule. In a few days the first habitats and defenses will be installed. In three weeks everything should be up and running. But you mentioned that you had something in store for the raiders?"

"Yes, I have. Patrolling the surrounding systems with just one ship isn't going to work. Too much space for a Defiant to cover, so instead I was thinking of putting that cloaking device to work again. These raiders attack ships that travel between jumpgates when they can't reach either gate fast enough to flee. I propose that I lay in wait with the Salvador in one system for six to seven days and then move to another system. With the cloak on, those raiders will never know what hit them and after a sort while they would get very wary of attacking because I could be there."

Immediately Tuvol picked up a certain weakness in the plan. "That could only work, if you are planning to let some of the raiders to escape."

"Yes, but that wouldn't be a real problem. The Salvador doesn't have a big enough brig or hangar bay to hold them anyway and killing defenseless people, even criminals isn't my style. Unless I start using the transporter but I don't think you are in favor of that."

"Their ships are that fragile?"

Santowitz nodded. "Yes, although they are only fighters that rely on jumpgates or a real ship to get around. I didn't pick up a ship with the raiders I encountered but I heard they do have a few jump capable ships. Speaking of jump capable ships, how is our research on hyperspace going?"

"We are still studying the subject, but we already have designed a jump engine of our one. We can replicate Quantium 40 but we are looking into designing an engine that would work without the element. We want to install the first one in your ship, it can be placed in the hangar bay. From what we have gathered hyperspace can potentially be faster then normal warp, but there are drawbacks. These people have no way of knowing where you are in real space as long as your ship is in hyperspace, again this is something we are looking into. Subspace could be the key here, but we have to test our theories first."

"I, in the mean time, also bought some jumpgate activation codes. That way we can send a shuttle or two to take some readings from hyperspace without having to wait for those engines to be installed. I will also give you a few, Boris, that way you have some backup if the engines get damaged or they fail. There are other drawbacks apart from the one Tuvol mentioned. Hyperspace isn't as calm as normal space but instead resembles an ocean, with currents and eddies. The jumpgates function as lighthouses for the ships in hyperspace and there are quite a few ships that get lost."

"I think I will stick to plain warp until your scientists have figured out how we can know where we are going when we are in hyperspace, thank you very much. I don't want to get lost, again!"

They talked for a while longer about lighter things until duty called once again.

**2 days later, Mid-range military bases at Beta Durani**  
The Sparta had returned with the Roanoke in tow. Now they had to analyze the strange Federation ships that had beaten their destroyers so easily. Attending the meeting were Captain Dexter Smith, General Fontaine, Colonel Carter and several others.

They had all read the reports and had just heard General Fontaine's account of his visit to the ship called Odyssey. "Assuming that they aren't misleading us, this Federation is very far away but with ships like that and their strange FTL technology, that makes little difference. We have no idea how long it would take a fleet of their ships to get here."

"What are they using," asked an admiral, "if it isn't jumptech?"

Carter had studied the reports and she was the one that answered. "They use a technology that propels them at faster then light speeds without leaving real space. Reports indicate that they can vary the speed at which they move and that even their shuttles are equipped with these engines. We currently can't track them when they use this FTL technology but we are working on it."

"So that is how they just appeared next to my ship?"

"No, captain. That sudden appearance is not consistent with the reports we have, I believe that they used something else to do that. I believe they used a stealth device like the Minbari, however this one is far more advanced then the one the Minbari use."

That caused some consternation among the gathered officers. "But if they can hide their ships that well, then their ships could be circling Earth as we speak!"

"Perhaps, but I think that their advanced stealth requires huge amounts of energy and so does their FTL engines. The recordings from the Agrippa clearly show that their energy shield only built up after they powered down their stealth. It also because of this that I don't think they can fire while their stealth works but this is pure speculation."

"Which brings us to the next question." General Fontaine frowned at the thought of a race with more advanced technology then the Minbari. "How do we stop them? The president was quite clear on this, we must retake Babylon 5 and capture one of the Federation ships to learn were they came from and to acquire their technologies."

"The blockade is step one, step two could be the capture of the Salvador. Apparently that ship is patrolling the systems surrounding the station to protect local shipping against raiders. The only problem is that we have no way of knowing where they are. We would have to get lucky or use several task forces to catch them."

That would have to do for now. President Clark had already put pressure on the Warlock team to finish a prototype as soon as possible but it would still take at least another year before it would be ready. In the mean time they would begin modifying some of their Omega's with the technology they had acquired from Ganymede but that too would take months. The modifications to several Hyperions would be ready in 2 months but were untested too, they could well blow up when test fired.

"We don't have enough ships to form several task forces, we will have to do with one. Their beam weapons, how powerful are they?" He had seen the Roanoke, it was covered in gashes and holes.

"They are very powerful and apparently they can control the amount of firepower they use. They destroyed the well-protected engines, laser/particle cannons and the pulse cannons with the same weapon yet in each case the damage was confined to these parts. They were only trying to disable our ships, not destroy them. Their weapons are probably capable of destroying an Omega class destroyer with one or two shots. My guess is that their missiles are even more powerful, if those tubes are indeed missile launchers."

"Which means that any attack would fail unless we achieve first strike and damage them sufficiently with that strike."

"I think so, sir. The Odyssey stopped after it got hit by the two missiles from the Nimrod. The energy field surrounding the ships also went down after it got hit multiple times. A missile strike of maybe six to eight should take out their shielding and incapacitate their ship."

"I would like to volunteer for the mission to capture the Fed ship, general."

"The Agrippa is still being repaired, captain Dexter. But if you can get all the repairs done in a week, you can join the hunt. It will take that long to assemble enough ships and prepare them."

Minbar, the capital city Yedor  
It felt good to be back home except for what Neroon had heard 2 days ago. Delenn had broken the council to aid that station but when they arrived, they saw that another race had already taken up the defense of Babylon 5. And now he had learned that they were human! Yes, there were others on board as well but most of the crew was human. Humans in possession of technology that seemed to be equal to their own but also radically different. Something had to be done about this, before those Federationists could give their technology to the other humans.

But what could he do? They were hiding at Babylon 5 and that station was being protected by the Worker and Religious cast. He refused to attack his fellow Minbari to prevent humans from getting new technology, he wasn't the one that had broken the council. Of course he couldn't be sure they would protect the Federation ships but he couldn't take the chance. In any case, the Federationists didn't seem to like the current rulers of Earth so he had some time before he had to act.

First he had to find out how advanced the Federation was and more importantly where in Valens name it was. He would keep his ears open, as the humans said, and see what he could learn about these new arrivals. He had already heard what Captain Lenann had seen on the ship, it seemed a bit unbelievable but he wouldn't make conclusions just yet.

TBC


	9. Your cell awaits you

Author's notes: This is my first chapter preread by my betareader. I just want to thank him for doing such fine work. I can't imagine how I did those last eight chapters without you.  
  
Your cell awaits you  
  
Babylon 5  
The _Thunderchild _was still towing the asteroid, although it was almost in place and the _Salvador_ would leave on its mission the next day. But today its crew enjoyed some well-deserved shore leave after the new jump engines had been installed. Most just took in the atmosphere and had a few drinks with friends. Others used this time to be alone with themselves or someone special. The Captain did some rock climbing on Holodeck 2 on the _Odyssey_.

In a cafe on Babylon 5 itself, Captain Hiroshi and Captain Walker were having lunch. Walker had been surprised when she called to invite him, but had accepted and now he was enjoying himself. They had both seen the first ISN broadcast since the studio was attacked and they had both seen how they now resorted to lies to cover up what had happened. ISN had become a propaganda channel for the Clark regime and the things they said about the Federation were just plain ridiculous.

Ambassador Mollari on the other hand was not so happy at the moment. In part this was caused by that fool Reva with whom he was forced to talk to at the moment. Tied to that was the adamant refusal by those Federationists to tell where they came from or trade their technology with the Centauri Republic. "I have taken the tour on board one of their ships and it looked quite impressive, Lord Reva."

"Yes, yes, I read your report. But I want to know why they do not share their technology with us while they share it with the others?"

"It is in my report. They don't sell their technology to any race that is fighting an offensive war. That is why the Abbai were the first to get an agreement, but they have also made it clear that they will not sell military technology. They are teaching races how to create artificial gravity and they sell the specs of medical devices and universal translators."

"Thanks to you Mollari, we can no longer depend on mister Morden's associates to help us. I have seen what those ships did too the Earth Alliance ships, that kind of technology could make our ships twice as strong. We need it, put some pressure on them and they will give in."

"How can I put pressure on them? I can only annoy them, yes. You haven't heard it yet but they gave G'Kar a tour of the ship as well."

"Are you saying that they are going to help the Narn?"

"No, I don't think they will. They didn't give him a tour a long with the ambassadors but I do know that they have sympathy for the Narn people because of what we did to their homeworld."

"Too bad, just put pressure on them Mollari. We will teach them not to ignore the Centauri!" With that Refa ended the transmission leaving Mollari pondering and worrying about what kind of foolish scheme Refa had thought up this time.

At the same time as the conversation ended, the Federation ships' sensors detected a jump point opening an hour's travel away from the station. Too far away for the sensors of Babylon 5 to detect but obviously they hadn't counted on the Federation ships. Commander Thalev was on the bridge of the _Odyssey_ at the time. "Report, Ensign."

"A jump point opened up 3 light minutes away from the station and one starfury exited it. It is making its way to the station now."

"Inform Babylon 5 and the Captain of what has happened and set a course for the fighter, warp 8."

In seconds they had reached the black fighter, with a white omega symbol on top of it. "This is the Federation starship USS _Odyssey_ to unknown starfury, state your identity."

He was a long way from the station and was about to send his distress signal when suddenly a white ship came out of nowhere. He had heard of these Federation ships and how they had taken out two destroyers in a matter of minutes without getting even a scratch themselves. But he had never suspected that their sensors had this kind of a range. Another bit of information that he would store away for later use. "This is Alfred Bester, Psicorps. It is important that I speak with Captain Sheridan."

There was a pause and then came the reply. "Cut your engines, we will tow you back to the station."

He saw no point in arguing so he complied. The ship sailed gracefully towards him and then lashed out with some kind of light, which pulled his fighter towards the ship. Then it turned and suddenly he saw how stars just streaked by. They had already reached the station before he could recover from the shock.

Instead of being cleared for docking as he suspected, he was told to wait near the station for at least half an hour before somebody talked to him. He hadn't gotten much from that Federation ship but he was certain there were telepaths onboard. Now he finally got contacted and he immediately recognized the sound of the voice, Captain Sheridan.

"Mister Bester, we no longer have any ties to Earth or to the Psicorps, so what are you doing here?"

"I have some important business to discuss with you, Captain. I was going to announce my arrival but apparently your bellboys were faster then I thought."

"Mister Bester, we no longer have to put up with you or your games. Right now, I am standing next to the controls of a 200 megawatt pulse cannon, give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow you out of the sky."

"Because you are curious? Kill me and you will never know why I took the trouble of coming here. I think that if you weigh that against the brief satisfaction of blowing me out of the sky, you will do the right thing."

Sheridan didn't answer him. "Captain?"

"I'm thinking it over."

"Ah." Now Bester got a bit worried. "Good." Although he didn't sound like he meant that.

"Ok, I will hear you out."

The welcome was as warm as always, mused Bester to himself staring at six security guards emitting very hostile thoughts. "You know, if this keeps up. I am going to start thinking that people around here just don't like me. I presume you are here to take me to my usual cell?"

While Bester was being brought to his cell, he was observed by Sheridan, Ivanova, Garibaldi, Franklin and Walker, who had decided to ask them what all the commotion was about. He had overheard the conversation between Sheridan and Bester, and Sheridan had told him about their past dealings with the Psicorps. That combined with what they themselves had gathered about that particular organization made him worry about why this Bester was here.

"I don't like it." There was a lot Garibaldi didn't like. "I didn't even know the little creep could fly a starfury."

"Every once in a while," said Sheridan as he turned away from the monitor, "a Psicop has to go out on his own, for security reasons. He is checked out on all the latest fighters."

"Did he tell you why he is here?" asked Franklin.

"He said that he wanted to fill us in, in a personal meeting."

"He just wants to get close enough to scan us." Ivanova distrusted the Psicorps intensely and so far was proven right to do so.

"But why? Everything that we were planning to do, we've done. We have broken away from Earth, taken a stand against the Psicorps and the President. Not much left to scan us for."

"He doesn't know that, Franklin."

"Well, I could drug him up again. Limit his ability to scan us."

"He says that if we do that, he won't be able to help us."

"Come on." Garibaldi was as skeptical as always. "Who in this room thinks he wants to help anybody but himself. He's just trying to pull a fast one."

"So what do we do then? Just keep him locked up forever?"

Ivanova was for that idea, but Sheridan was still curious about why he had come to Babylon 5.

"We have to find out if he is telling us the truth. If he is, we need to hear him out. If not, I am all for throwing him into, no under the brig."

Now was the time to offer his help, thought Walker to himself. "If I may, I think that I can help you with your trust issue."

Sheridan turned to face the Federation captain. "How?"

Captain Walker just smiled, tapped his combadge and asked for Counselor Taber. It took a few minutes, but then in stepped Taber.

"How can a counselor help us/"

"Because he is a Betazoid, he can tell us whether mister Bester tries to scan us and block him if he tries."

"You mean he is a telepath." Susan's look became instantly suspicious. "Why do you call a telepath, a Betazoid?"

Taber answered that question. "Because that is my species, I am not a human but a Betazoid. And I would be happy to help, Captain."

Susan now noticed the black eyes that lacked an iris. "What does it matter what species you are? You are still a telepath." It sounded like an accusation.

But Sheridan had a question of his own, this time for captain Walker. "Why didn't you tell us you had telepaths on your ship?"

"My apologies, after I had seen the broadcasts I should have realized that you would react negatively to the knowledge that there were telepaths among my crew but where we come from, that isn't a problem or even something you think about. Some can hear better, others see better and others can sense thoughts or emotions. It's just the way of the universe, we don't have an organization to control them. There is no need and your Psicorps only proves how bad the idea is."

Taber took over from Captain Walker now. "As to why it's important what species I am. Humans don't have any telepaths were we come from. But there are a few members of the Federation that are telepathic, like Betazoids."

"You mean that there are entire races composed completely of telepaths!" Ivanova didn't even wait for the nod, the very possibility made her shudder. The others seemed to be uncomfortable too, but Sheridan pushed his discomfort aside. He didn't trust Bester but he didn't completely trust these Federationists either. Not yet anyway. "Well, if you can muzzle Bester then we can hear him out right now. The sooner he is of my station, the better."

It wasn't long before the guards came to escort him without a word to Sheridan's office. Of course he didn't need words but it would be best not to offend them too much. He still needed them.

Sheridan's office was crowded by the usual mundanes. Franklin, Ivanova, Garibaldi and of course Sheridan. However there were also two that he hadn't met before, but their uniforms clearly showed that these were from the Federation ships. One of them he recognized from the recordings as captain Walker but who was the other one? "I take it these are your other guests, Captain? Apparently they hadn't heard about how hospitable the station is."

"I am Captain Walker and this is ship's Counselor Taber." Taber just nodded in acknowledgement.

A psychiatrist? Why was he present here? Never mind, there were more important things than that.

"Lately it has come to my attention that we have a common enemy. There is an old saying: 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'. President Clark isn't calling the shots back home. There are others whispering in his ears. I don't know who they are or where they are from, but I do know they are not human. I have only heard one name for them. Shadows. My guess is that you know more about them then I do, but you are probably not interested in sharing that information, are you?"

If this is about Shadows then maybe it wasn't such a good idea to accept the help of captain Walker, thought Sheridan. No telling what they thought of them. But Bester wasn't finished.

"The future belongs to telepaths, captain. And I intend to make certain that future happens, one way or the other. But we can't be on top if the aliens get there first and some of them have. Through Clark they have infiltrated the Psicorps, apparently they have their own plans for my telepaths. Whatever these aliens are, they are interfering with my plans for the future. I won't have it."

"Why did you come now? What happened that forced you to act?"

"In a few hours a convoy of ships will be riding the hyperspace beacon through sector 500. At the center of the convoy is a ship containing supplies for our mutual enemy. The transport is being escorted by approximately half a dozen enemy fighters. Seize the ship and we deprive them of some of their weapons capability, but it is important to capture the ship not destroy it."

"So how did you find out about all of this?" Captain Sheridan had an idea but he wanted to make certain.

"I'm a telepath, work it out."

"Mister Taber has he tried anything?"

Now Bester was surprised and he looked at the counselor. So the Federation had telepaths and they had used one to make certain that he wouldn't try anything funny. It was a good thing, then that he hadn't.

"No captain, he hasn't, however there is something you should know." Bester didn't like that. "When he mentioned the supplies, I could hear what the cargo was. Apparently these Shadows consider telepaths as weapons."

How had he done that, he was certain that he wasn't scanned in any way? Bester had hoped to keep that a secret until after they had been freed but now he would have to play on their sympathy as well as their self-interest or they might not risk a fight for mere telepaths. "Yes, your telepath is correct. I thought that the ship was carrying weapons components but only later did I learn that it was in fact abducted telepaths that were being transported."

It wasn't enough, he could see it in their eyes. Except for captain Walker who seemed to be thinking about something. Then he spoke before anybody else could. "Does it really matter what the ship carries? Photon torpedoes or telepaths, your enemy uses them as weapons and that means that you should prevent them getting to their destination. And since these telepaths didn't go willingly, I can send help along. The _Salvador_ is ready and I am certain that captain Santowitz would want to help you."

Sheridan thought it over. On the one hand it was telepaths that they were going to help, but on the other hand the shadows obviously wanted them and he was curious what they were planning to do with them. There was only one way to find out.

"Alright, it seems that we are going to help you, Bester. But now that you have delivered your message, what do we need you for?"

"Locating a ship this small in hyperspace is extremely difficult. The gravitational incline, competing beacons, energy surges. You could search for days and not find it. Unless you just happen have a lone telepath rated at P-12." He even raised a hand for emphasis. "Someone like myself. Trained P-12's can pinpoint a ships location by focusing on the thought waves of those onboard. For some reason hyperspace seems to amplify the signal considerably."

"So how come I have never heard about that little ability before?"

"Captain, please. We kept it to ourselves, otherwise the military might start placing telepaths on the frontlines. We are not expendable, unlike mundanes."

"That would be us."

"Got it in one, Mister Garibaldi. It takes generations to breed a telepath, mundanes breed like rabbits. Supply and demand. Nothing more, nothing less. Captain, we don't have a lot of time and without me you will never find them."

"Maybe, maybe not. Counselor Taber, can you do what mister Bester here is so sure he can do?"

"No, I don't think I can. I have no idea if hyperspace works for me too and I wouldn't know which thought pattern to look for."

Captain Walker took over from here. "Unfortunately, tests have shown that our sensors are severely limited in hyperspace. We can still see further then any of your ships but not far enough to find one lone, small transport escorted by a couple of fighters. I am afraid that we will need his services."

"Prepare the Whitestar, we leave in half an hour." ordered Sheridan.

"I will tell Santowitz about his new mission, he will be ready then."

As the rest left, Ivanova stayed behind. She seemed reluctant to bring up the topic so Sheridan started.

"You wanted to talk to me in private?"

"Yes, we have a problem. It's G'Kar."

TBC 


	10. Who do you serve?

Who do you serve?  
  
Babylon 5  
Captain Santowitz was still tugging his uniform when he took his seat on the bridge. He had been filled in on the way to his ship and he had agreed that this was the right thing to do. His crew wasn't complete yet, but those that were already onboard began checking systems so that they could leave when the Whitestar was ready.

Meanwhile, on board the bridge of the Whitestar, captain Sheridan had worries of his own. He and Delenn had agreed that G'Kar should finally be allowed into their Alliance of Light, but he wanted to tell G'Kar himself that they said nothing about the Shadow involvement in the war that had caused the subjugation of his people. But Delenn had insisted that she was the one that had asked Sheridan not to say a thing and that she should be the one to tell this to G'Kar. Normally he would have argued about it more, but they had to get going and just didn't have the time.

As the Whitestar gracefully moved through the activated jumpgate, the boxy looking _Salvador _followed her. Their crew didn't have experience with hyperspace travel and the sight awed them. The inertial dampeners had a tough time compensating for the gravitational eddies as they moved through hyperspace. The telepaths onboard were reporting that their senses had increased greatly, one of them had already gone to sickbay. Sensor range on the other hand was severely limited and they could now only scan space for 2 light minutes at best. Not much but it was still a lot more then what any other ship could do. They would still have to rely on Bester to find the convoy.

Bester was examining the controls of the Whitestar at that time, trying to memorize every detail. "Try not to drool over the controls." Sheridan muttered as he left the captain's chair to talk to Ivanova.

"You said something, Captain?"

"Hmm, not a word."

"Approaching target area," Lennier announced.

"Scanners aren't picking anything up." After Lennier's announcement, Bester had moved to the captain's chair and now he sat down on that chair.

"Alright, let's see what you can do..." Only now did Sheridan turn around to see Bester sitting in his chair, fiddling with the controls. "Mister Bester."

"Captain Sheridan."

"Get the hell out of my chair."

After a reluctant Bester had left his chair, Sheridan took his seat again.

"They are here, I can feel them. Thirty degrees to port."

"Captain?"

"Thirty degrees to port."

The _Salvador_ was the first one to pick up the convoy. Sheridan had remained sketchy about their enemy but he had told them not to underestimate the capabilities of the Shadows. Now they could find out for themselves what those capabilities were. "What do you got for me, lieutenant?"

"One Skylark class freighter and six smaller targets. However they are organic, not mechanical."

"You mean they have organic fighters?" Organic ships were rare in their home universe, but not unheard of. But they always had a surprise for the unlucky Federation ship that met them. Of course they had already heard of the organic ships of the Vorlons, one was sitting in the docking bay of Babylon 5. But they hadn't scanned it because that might upset the Vorlons and the Whitestar only had some organic tech in its design. The other Captains would have loved to get some pieces for study but he was not about to reveal the existence of transporters to that weasel.

"Red alert, inform captain Sheridan that we have spotted the convoy and that Bester's information was correct."

They had quickly dispatched the enemy fighters, although their plasma weapon was good, their armour couldn't withstand a shot from their phaser array. When the freighter tried to escape, the _Salvador_ quickly caught up with the fleeing ship and snared it with its tractor beam. "Captain, I am detecting 100 humans on board, they are all in cryogenic suspension. There are also 4 unknown life forms on board but their vital signs are rapidly fading."

They needed answers, he couldn't risk letting them die. "Transport the aliens directly to sickbay and send a security force to sickbay." Just as they had completed transport, a new ship appeared on sensors. "There is a ship right on top of us, its signature is consistent with the fighters. It is organic, just like the fighters, sensors can't penetrate its skin."

The Whitestar had picked it up as well and was now moving to attack the ship, but the spider like ship just moved off and disappeared into hyperspace, leaving the crews on both ships stunned. Santowitz hadn't seen such a scary looking ship since he first saw a Borg Cube at Wolf 359. "The Whitestar is hailing us."

"Put it on screen."

Captain Sheridan looked as puzzled as he did. "I don't know about you, but I think we shouldn't press our luck."

"Agreed, we better return to Babylon 5 and see what they want with a bunch of telepaths."

When they arrived at Babylon 5, the _Odyssey_ immediately sent a team to the transport to see how the frozen telepaths were doing. The alien crew wasn't much help, only two had survived their attempted suicide and both had tried again when they woke up. They both succeeded in that last attempt and now they only had 4 alien corpses of which two were badly damaged by some kind of acid.

One of the people that came on board first was doctor Franklin, who was accompanied by doctor Joe. He had learned that Joe was a hologram only three hours ago when he was activated in front of his eyes. It was stunning to see such a level of artificial intelligence at work, but it was more disconcerting that the crew seemed to regard the hologram as a sentient being. It would take some getting used to.

When they entered the ship they saw rows of cryotubes, all containing a telepath whose face was frozen in an expression of excruciating pain. They went over to one of the tubes to examine them more closely. The only ID he could find was a bracelet on the left wrist with a Psicorps logo and a sequence of numbers. He could also see cyberweb implants on either side of the skull just above the cerebral cortex.

Doctor Joe in the meantime had pulled out his tricorder to get a more detailed analysis. "Hmmm."

"What?"

"The implants are connected to several regions of the brain. I would say that these implants are used to connect his brain to a machine of some kind. But I can't tell whether he is supposed to control the machine the machine him."

"We better move them all off the ship and bring one of them to Medlab for further study. We can wake one of them up to get some more answers."

"That last thing might not be a good idea. We have no idea what kind of effect the implants are having on their minds, but it is clear that they were in considerable pain before they got frozen. I suggest we first try to learn all we can without waking one of them up, because it is quite possible that they will react violently after waking up."

Franklin agreed, it would be best to proceed cautiously.

An hour later, everybody was gathered in Sheridan's office to hear the preliminary findings of the two doctors. It was doctor Joe that was relaying their findings but now he came with something that he had only discovered minutes ago. "Some parts of the implants looked familiar so I did some cross checking with the Federation database to see if Starfleet had encountered anything similar. In some ways these implants are the same as the Borg use to interface their drones with their ships."

This got the attention of the two Starfleet captains, but it also sparked an idea in captain Sheridan. Captain Walker didn't want to explain what the Borg were right now so he asked the doctor if the implants could be removed.

"Yes, I think so. They are not as sophisticated as the ones the Borg use, but I will have to do more studies to know how exactly it can be done. And even if I am successful, they will still be traumatized and in need of extensive counseling."

"Then the question comes to mind, what they were going to be used for?"

"I think I have an idea about that." Everybody turned to Sheridan. "We don't know much about Shadow ships except that they are some kind of organic technology and that they use a living being as their central operating system. They were going to plug those people into their ships." For some reason both Federation captains got cold faces.

"But who are they?"

"All we have, are these." And Franklin waved a sheet he had in his left hand. "They all have a bracelet with a Psicorps symbol and a series of numbers but I don't know what they mean."

"Bester, perhaps you could shed some light on who they are."

Bester took the sheet and looked over the row of numbers.

"They are blips, telepaths that refused to join the corps or take the sleepers to control their ability. Sometimes they run, but we catch them again and send them to a re-education center. Some of them are actually rated quite high on the...."

"What's wrong?"

"I need to see this one, wake her up now."

"That would not be wise, however I do have a picture of every person in those tubes on my padd." Joe quickly looked up the relevant number and showed the photo to Bester who was very silent and seemed actually sad as he looked at the face frozen in pain.

"Who is she?" asked Sheridan.

"The single bright light in my existence. I love her, she is carrying my child."

"I thought you had a wife and daughter back on Mars?"

"I do. It was a genetic paring, arranged by the Corps. There is no love there. Kara, she was just supposed to be another blip assigned to the re-education center. The moment I saw her, I felt as though something long dead had awakened inside of me. I used every excuse I could to spend time with her. I helped to get her better quarters, more food, I did whatever I could to make her life a little more bearable. Somewhere along the line I discovered that I was in love with her. I hadn't thought it possible, I don't think I have ever been in love before."

"If that is true, why didn't you try to get her out?" This side of Bester made Ivanova uncomfortable. Bester almost seemed human!

"Because I don't have that kind of authority. When I found out that she was pregnant with our child, I kept after her to go on the sleepers or join the Corps. We could be together that way! She refused. She was always stubborn. That was four weeks ago, then she disappeared and my investigation led me to those shadow creatures. I had promised her that I would take care of her and the baby. It was the only promise I ever made and I intend to keep it. You have to help her, I don't care how long it takes. Your war is now my war as well."

With that, Bester left the room. The Federation captains exchanged a look, then both of them turned to Sheridan. "I can't speak for Tuvol of course, but I think we will help you too, although indirectly for the moment. We will have to discuss this with her first but I am thinking about making your fighters more formidable. I have seen how strong those Shadow fighters were and your starfuries wouldn't stand a change against them." Now the Federation officers left as well, leaving the staff of Babylon 5 alone.

Their conversation had gone better then Delenn expected. G'Kar hadn't forgiven her for keeping silent but he hadn't stopped speaking with her either. Perhaps in time he would forgive her, but this was good enough. They both stepped into the elevator and as it made its way to the right level, Delenn spoke to G'Kar. "You have picked a most auspicious day to join the war council, G'Kar. The captain tells me that two new allies have joined our cause today and our new facilities are complete. Ours has been a long and difficult journey, filled with mistrust. Once you step through this door, all of that changes...forever."

At that moment the door did open and they stepped into the room. It was large and had a big map of the known territory on the right wall. On the other walls there were computer screens showing all kinds of data. In the middle of the room was a round table with 8 chairs around it. Sheridan, Garibaldi and Ivanova were preparing for the first meeting in the war room.

They made their offer for a better thunderbolt three days ago and he was reviewing their proposal now. And it was a good one although a bit hard to believe that it could be done. They wanted to replace the pulse cannons with one phase cannon, replace the armour with polarized hull plating, add a gravity generator and inertial dampers, refit the fighter with a duotronic computer and fit it with impulse engines. This made it faster, more maneuverable, giving it a greater weapons range and power on top of a tracking system that could target a Minbari fighter. All of this was powered by an enhanced micro-fusion reactor that was sorely needed because all of these systems were power hungry.

They were proposing a fighter that only looked like a thunderbolt from the outside but would be a whole other animal inside. Without the industrial replicator they would have never been able to produce even one of them but even with the replicator it would take a while just to get a prototype flying. And time was one of the few things that was in short supply at Babylon 5 now a days.

He was interrupted by Garibaldi. "Garibaldi to Sheridan."

"Sheridan, go."

"Code 7R, fifteen minutes."

"I am kinda in the middle of something."

"Believe me, you are going to love this."

He met G'Kar, Ivanova and Delenn at the lift to the war room, as curious as he was about why Garibaldi had asked them to come. He was already seated, playing with the book G'Kar had given him months earlier.

"Michael, you look like the proverbial cat that ate the equally proverbial canary."

Garibaldi was very hyper, knocking on the book repeating that he got it and that it was right here. Obviously he was referring to something he had found in the book but what? G'Kar himself was not so happy with the way Michael was treating the book. "Do not thump the book of G'Quan, it is disrespectful."

Ivanova asked him the question that everybody had, what did he have?

"G'Kar, as I understand it, there aren't any Narn telepaths, right?"

"Yes, I am afraid it is so. It is a matter of great concern to us."

"But once upon a time there were Narn telepaths, weren't there?"

"Yes, but they and their families were wiped out a thousand years ago. The gene that controls telepathy has never been strong enough in any of the survivors to breed another one."

Delenn wanted to know where this was going. The others did too, but Garibaldi seemed to be certain there was a point to his questions.

"A thousand years ago, ambassador. You've said the last time the Shadows were on the move was a thousand years ago. G'Kar, it says here that your world was used as a base by the ancient enemy during that time."

"Yes, that is correct."

"Read this, right here."

"And the spirit of darkness moved upon the land. It screamed in the dreams of the mindwalkers and they fell, destroyed by it, to their children and their children's children. Then did the darkness come to Narn, until it was driven out by G'Quan and the last of the surviving mindwalkers."

Realization dawned on Sheridan. "They are afraid of telepaths, that is why they infiltrated the Psicorps and that is why that shadow vessel didn't attack us when we captured the transport. We had Bester on board and I apparently one of the crewmembers onboard the _Salvador_ was telepathic as well. Telepaths must some how hinder the link between the ship and the person. That is why they wanted to plug telepaths into them. They were going to combat telepaths with telepaths."

"Exactly what I thought."

"This means that we have a weapon. My God people, we have a weapon!" Sheridan seemed to be very enthusiastic by this latest discovery. But then Ivanova got news that that dampened the mode considerably.

The Shadows had begun to attack the Brakiri, openly.

In Brakiri space, tall green ships, looking very powerful were being cut to pieces by sinister ships that were as black as night. Their purple beams dissected ships before they could even begin to respond to the unexpected attack by those that had been considered allies only minutes before.

TBC


	11. Interludes and reflections

Interludes and reflections

**Hyperspace, EAS _Agrippa_**  
For two weeks now they were searching for that blasted _Salvador,_ but every time they thought they had them, they were too late. Twice they were too late, all that was left were the remains of raider fighters and some thankful freighter captains who were on their way to Babylon 5. Naturally they were told that Babylon 5 was under blockade and they were 'advised' to go back but he wasn't here to do the job of the blockade fleet. He was here to capture or destroy that Federation ship and he was going to do that even if he had to fly around hyperspace for another month.

Yesterday they had encountered two Vorchans that left in a hurry as soon as the Centauri detected them. He was wondering what the Centauri were doing here, but then again there was a lot of movement lately. The Brakiri were being attacked by an unknown race and they were getting slaughtered. But the aliens didn't matter, it was the Federation ship that was the objective.

It was also yesterday that they jumped out of hyperspace for the third time as well. This time there was nothing to greet them except for the usual traffic. None of them had encountered any of the Federation ships although there was a rumor that they had fought one of the unidentified alien ships in hyperspace. Could those Centauri degenerates be after the same prey as he was?

**Hyperspace, the Primus battlecruiser _Demola_**  
Vor Talle was less then happy with his new assignment. It had sounded too easy for him and if it was so easy, why did he have two Primus battlecruisers and eight Vorchans with him? Capture the Federation gunboat called _Salvador_ and return it to Centauri Prime. That was what Emperor Cartagia had ordered him to do and he had made certain to get every scrap of information about the ship before they left.

And now that he had seen the slaughter of those Earth destroyers he could understand why the Emperor was so interested in the ship. Their forcefield technology was good and their beam weapon was as good as the one the Minbari used. But with the force he was commanding he should be able to take it on and suffer minimal losses if he achieved surprise and struck first. If not, then it would get messy and his quarry may even escape him.

But the Federation ship wasn't his only worry. Two of his Vorchans encountered an EA task force that seemed to be waiting in hyperspace. If they were after the same thing as he was then he would have to worry about keeping his prize as much as he was worrying about obtaining it. He sighed, it all depended on how things would go once he received the signal. Until then he couldn't do anything but wait and stare at the red fury that was hyperspace.

**Brakiri space, the Avioki cruiser _Bashi_**  
For weeks now, the Shadows had been attacking them and others in the region. There seemed to be no pattern in these attacks and their ships were not even capable of slowing them down. Their cruisers looked impressive and their sleek design awed the lay observer but anybody serving on a ship like this one knew its flaws. Because the military is supposed to assist in supporting the Brakiri economy when not engaging in active military duties their ships were thinly armored and poorly armed in favor of more cargo space.

The Shadow ships sliced right through them and their own weaponry was barely enough to take out their scouts. The Brakiri captain had heard that artificial gravity would be installed into their ships soon. They had recently purchased that technology from the Federation. Then his nightmare came true as his scan officer alerted him to a Shadow fleet appearing on their starboard bow.

The warning was accompanied by the explosion of one of his cruisers, sliced in two by one of the spider ships. Immediately he ordered his cruisers to turn so that they could face the threat. Inwardly he cursed those money-pinching bureaucrats that decided against building dedicated warships, even just a few. The decision would cost them all dearly. Minutes later the Shadow vessels left, leaving the debris of four Brakiri ships in their wake.

**Epsilon Eridani, USS _Odyssy_**  
After Franklin had woken up and had taken a sonic shower, he went to the replicator to get a decent breakfast. He was enjoying his time off immensely, but also cringed when he thought back as to how he got here. He hadn't even noticed that he needed it until they doing that recalibration of the tricorders more than a week ago.

_After the doctor had recalibrated the tricorder he did a quick scan of me to check if the procedure had gone well. "It's working perfectly again, the next...." The doctor had seen something on his display that he hadn't expected. His question was the thing I hadn't expected. "I am reading high levels stimulants in your blood stream. You're addicted. How long have you had this problem and why haven't you done something about it?" He sounded very angry, but the accusation made me angry as well._

"_What are you talking about, give me that." And with those words I snatched it from his hands to see for myself. And he was right, the amount clearly indicated that I was addicted. I think I dropped the tricorder then when it hit home that I was addicted and I hadn't noticed it. The doctor seemed concerned and guided me to one of the biobeds._

"_Luckily for you I can do something about the physical addiction, but I am going to prescribe at least two weeks of rest followed by three weeks of light duty." He grabbed a hypospray._

"_Hey, wait just a minute. I am not a member of Starfleet, you can't just order me around."_

"_Either you take a long vacation now, or I will have no choice but to report this to my captain who will talk to your captain and then he will order you take a vacation." I didn't want anybody else to find out how stupid I had been so I relented._

"_There, I will tell them to arrange for some quarters for your stay here. Tell me, do you play golf?"_

Franklin smiled, he was getting better at the game and he felt more relaxed than he had for a long time. He had become so immersed in his job that he had forgotten to live. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

That last plasma bolt barely missed his Thunderbolt-B5. He loved the new Thunderbolt because it had prolonged his life considerably in this fight against these Shadow fighters. Craig now turned his fighter to face the dark blob that was spitting out white balls of death, while his fighter was carried on momentum on his original heading, Craig squeezed the trigger and his phase cannon fired a beam hitting the hostile fighter. For a second the dense armour of the Shadow fighter resisted but then it was pierced and it blew apart.  
  
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

The Thunderbolt pilot now engaged his engines again and sped into the direction he was facing with a velocity of 0.25c. Faster then any fighter the Earth Alliance had and the armor was also a lot better as was proven moments later when a Shadow fighter managed to land several hits. His fighter still flew even though its armor had sustained damage and wouldn't be able to take many more.

He spotted one of his comrades being chased by another Shadow fighter. It was over 15,000 kilometers away and in his old fighter that would be well out of range, but not for this one. He lined up and fired, hitting the enemy fighter although contact was too brief to take it out. Still, his comrade used the distraction to shake his pursuer off and seconds later the Shadow fighter was destroyed.

Then a Shadow battlecrab appeared right in front of him and the last thing he saw was a purple light emanating from the spiderlike vessel. The next thing he knew he was standing on the holodeck again, along with the others that had been shot down. These holodecks were something else, he had to keep reminding himself that it wasn't real.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Captain Walker looked out the window of his ready room and took in the sight. There was their own station that, for lack of a better name, was called Deep Space Babylon. Most of the construction efforts were finished although there were still some things that had to be done. But the industrial replicators on the station could provide the necessary equipment freeing up the replicators on the ships for their next task.

Nine days ago a task force of rebel Earth Alliance ships had arrived comprising of three Hyperions and two Omegas. Captain Sheridan had asked that they also upgrade those ships, and they had decided in favor of the request. Now with help from their crews they were modifying the systems of the ships in record time. The Hyperions were the first ones partially because they were smaller and therefore they would be ready sooner. It would still take them two days before test flights could begin and that was with people working around the clock. The work never stopped but those ships still weren't ready and there was no telling how little time remained.

Now he could see six Peregrine fighters preparing to dock with the _Thunderchild_ after patrolling the system. Thanks to their warp engines they could cover the entire system and their weapon systems meant that they could handle most threats. The two Omegas were still waiting to be refitted and further up he could barely see the reason that kept him waiting in his ready room for her. Then he heard the door open behind him and he turned around to greet her.

Captain Hiroshi was curious as to why Peter had wanted to see her, he had refused to tell her. "Hello, Captain Hiroshi."

Well, that was more formal then usual, something was up. "Hello, Peter." Why should she do so formal all of a sudden? "You said you wanted to see me, but you didn't say what?"

"Yes, I did. I already told Captain Sheridan about this offer and he was eager to accept it. But I wanted to tell you the news myself. At the moment the Churchill is a burned out wreck, she wont fly anymore without replacing many of her systems."

"I know that." It sounded a tat defensive. "So you want to scrap her, is that why you wanted to tell me it in person?"

He seemed amazed. "No, I want to repair the Churchill. As you know the Hyperions are almost done and we learned quite a bit about Earth Alliance technology from that refit. We want to use that experience into a complete refit of the Churchill, even more extensive then the one we are going to do to the _Alexander_ and the _Agamemnon_. Here is the proposal."

Sandra took the Padd and looked at the ship, she could hardly recognize it as an Omega, let alone her Omega. Gone was the bulky rotating midsection, it was replaced with an elegant midsection with a bridge on top and several plasma cannons to defend that part of the ship. The weaponry was replaced as well and now included several phase cannons with a far bigger field of fire, supported by plasma cannons. Room for all of this and more was created by replacing the thick armour by polarized hull plating and a shield. "Are you going to equip it with a shield? But I thought you wouldn't give us that technology?"

"We aren't. Although your armor is far thicker then what you can find on any Federation ship, it wouldn't be enough if you ever faced a Shadow vessel. So we are going to lend the new and improved Churchill a navigational shield that should protect you from the first strike of one of their ships. But only one I'm afraid, we can only squeeze so much power out of the fusion reactors. Even after we install an additional two enhanced fusion reactors next to the four improved ones, power is still going to be a problem."

"Of course I am glad that my old ship is going to be repaired instead of scrapped but what do you want from me?"

"It is your ship so it would be only natural for you to oversee the refit and after that to take command of the ship again."

Sandra said nothing. She just hugged him.

Epsilon Eridani, Babylon 5  
In his ungainly encounter suit he followed the chaos created by the Shadows. He hadn't left his quarters for weeks now, but this wasn't the first time he had done that. He would show his face, as the humans said, soon enough, but for now he just followed the events. They weren't ready yet to move, they needed more time and the one thing they could do to buy that time frightened him.

TBC


	12. The hunter and the hunted

The hunter and the hunted  
  
Mentab system  
Captain Santowitz was on the bridge when their waiting was rewarded yet again. They had driven off raiders on four occasions and now they would do it for a fifth time. "I am reading twelve raiders attacking a Narn transport, one light hour from our current position."

The captain didn't hesitate with his orders. "Mr. Maldon set a course for that freighter, maximum warp. Drop back to impulse once we are in weapons range. When we are in range I want to drop the cloak, charge phasers and raise the shields."

They had reached them within seconds but these raiders were acting differently than the ones they had encountered the last two times. Instead of running like they had done then, these came right for him. "Has the transport send out any distress signals?"

"No, sir. Shall I hail them?"

"Yes and warn the raiders to back off or face the consequences." For some reason, this didn't feel right. Four raiders had kept attacking the transport but the other eight had kept advancing on his ship even after the warning. "If they want to play it like that, fine with me. Fire a warning shot."

A yellow energy beam lashed out from the Salvador almost hitting one of the fighters, whose systems momentarily went offline from the EM energy. But they kept coming for the ship.

They left Santowitz no choice. "Fire at will, but spare any fighter that retreats."

Only after the fourth fighter blew up did the others turn around, but instead of fleeing they came after the transport again. They were trying to use the transport as a shield, forcing him to get closer. When he had finally reached the transport and they could no longer use it for cover, they ran. But then came the bad news. "Sir, I am getting some odd readings on that transport. Their reactors seem to be unstable and the vital signs of every person on that ship are weak."

This smelled like a trap. That was the thought that ran through his mind as he bellowed his orders. "Reverse course, full impulse. Transport as many people of the transport as possible, now!"

As the ship moved away, the bombs hidden among the reactors of the ship detonated along with the ship. The Salvador hadn't made it far and it vanished in the explosion that lit up space like a small sun.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"My lord, we have received the signal." Now it was the time to spring the trap, it had been a long wait. "Order the fleet to jump but not to fire." The ship probably hadn't survived the blast but then again maybe it had.

After his ship had made the jump back to normal space he could clearly see that not only was the ship intact, it was still functional. He was impressed, a Vorchan wouldn't have survived the explosion, but this little ship had. No matter, with the firepower at his command he could disable them easily. "Open a channel to the Federation ship."

"Channel open."

"This is Lord Vor Talle of the Centauri Republic. The Federation has been lending military aid to the enemies of the Republic despite our warnings that this constitutes as an act of war." It was nonsense of course, but a pretext was necessary. Although they could at least have tried to make it sound believable. "Because of this we, the Centauri, feel justified to defend ourselves. In the name of our Emperor we order you to stand down and surrender your ship. If you comply we can guarantee the return of your crew after a brief stay on Centauri Prime."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Report."

"Our shields weren't fully up when the explosion hit us and a plasma conduit exploded on deck 2, section 5. Warp and jump engines are offline, so are the amour generators. Impulse engines took a beating as well, I can only give you half impulse. We managed to save 12 Narn before the ship exploded, all unconscious." Then the jump points opened up and the crew of the _Salvador_ was treated to the sight of ten Centauri warships entering normal space. After listening to their message, the captain gave his orders.

"Engineering, get those warp engines back online. Helm, plot a course out of the encirclement and engage. Tactical, charge phasers and ready photons." The battlecruisers had already launched their fighters making that little area of space even more crowded.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Vor Talle watched as the ship began to move, accelerating rapidly. "Vor Talle to all ships, fire at will. But only disable the ship, do not destroy it." He watched as his ships struggled to hit the ship that was evading rapidly, but with so many ships firing on the same target, hits were inevitable. But they were not very effective, their shields simply flared up protecting the ship from harm. But they hadn't fired yet; perhaps their weapons were damaged by the explosion.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

The ship rocked and the news from engineering wasn't good either. It would take at least three hours to repair the warp engines, too long. He had no choice but to stand and fight or he would loose the ship. "Change of plans people, we are going on the offensive. Mr. Maldon, attack pattern delta. Lieutenant Scovi target their power cores, use the normal phasers and the pulse phasers."

They had been avoiding the ships so far and had managed to put some distance between them and the two battlecruisers but the Vorchans were faster and had kept up, pounding them with their twin ion cannons. Now the ship turned around and headed straight for them, firing its energy beam and energy pulses at the war cruisers. One hit by the energy beam or one volley of energy pulses was all that it took to take out a Vorchan.

Four were already destroyed when the Primus battlecruisers came into range again and lent their firepower to the battle. "Shields down to 25% and dropping, those battlecruisers have far more firepower then the Vorchans. We will not last much longer." The announcement was accompanied with another energy discharge from one of the consoles. They really needed to look into that problem. "Target one of the battlecruisers and fire one photon torpedo."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

He was not a happy Centauri. When that Federation captain finally decided to fight, his ship had made light work of four of his ships and he was now coming for the rest. Those energy pulses were not used against the Earth ships, he was sure of it. They were holding back then even more then he had suspected.

It was at that moment that the _Salvador_ launched a pulsating energy ball that came directly after his ship. Before his ship could even begin to evade, it had reached them. The explosion that followed blinded the fighter pilots that were watching as well as cooking many of the pilots in their unshielded fighters. Two of the Vorchans had stayed close to the battlecruisers as a reserve and were tossed aside by the explosion; the other Primus also took damage.

On the bridge of the Primus battlecruiser _Ferono Des_ silence reigned as they saw that there was not much left of Lord Talle's ship. Captain Salpe only had 5 ships left, 3 of which were immobilized. His own ship was among those three, because the blast had overloaded his gravimetric drive, knocking out not only his defense grid but also propulsion.

He watched as the Federation ship turned towards his ship, expecting to meet Mo-Goth soon. Then the ship turned away, leaving the decimated Centauri fleet behind. The captains of the two operational Vorchans were actually foolish enough to try and chase the ship. He hastily ordered them to get back and tow his ship and one of the damaged Vorchans back to Centauri Prime. The other one was loosing life support and wouldn't last long.

The Vorchans engaged their tractor beams and opened up a jump point, leaving the remains of 5 Vorchans and the debris of a Primus behind. Their quarry was now making its way to the local jump gate, damaged but not defeated. Salpe wished that it was his ship that was destroyed instead of Lord Talle's, at least then he wouldn't have to face Cartagia.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Two hours later five jump points opened up and out of them came a fleet of Earth Alliance ships. Captain Dexter was furious that the Centauri had gotten to the ship first and just hoped that they could snatch the prize away from them or at least pick up a few pieces of debris that they had left behind.

After they had jumped back to normal space they had no problem finding debris, but it was not from the Federation ship. The remains of 4 Vorchans were drifting dead in space with a disabled fifth one lingering near a field of debris that was tentatively identified as the remains of a Primus. They couldn't be sure because there wasn't enough left of the ship.

Either the Centauri now had the Federation ship and were well on their way to Centauri Prime or that little ship had actually bested their fleet and was on its way back to Babylon 5. They would never catch up with the Centauri before they reached their homeworld and if the Federation ship had survived an attack from a Centauri fleet he wouldn't be able to do much with his own task force.

But not all was lost; instead of bringing in one Federation ship he would deliver these Centauri ships. They too had technology that Earth didn't have and they would need it, no matter if the _Salvador_ was captured or not. Half an hour later the Earth ships left the system as well, leaving a debris field behind that was a lot smaller then when they had arrived.

**Epsilon Eridani, USS _Odyssey_**  
She woke up from the nightmare, a nightmare that was in reality a memory. She woke up expecting to see those aliens again preparing for the next painful procedure. Instead of large heads with a pale skin and large, black eyes she saw a human standing over her. The room was not poorly light and dark, but bright and had the feel of a Medlab. But it wasn't like any she had seen nor did she recognize the uniform or insignia of the bald man.

"Calm down, everything is alright." She just looked at him in disbelief. How could everything be all right? Didn't he know what they had done to her, how they had twisted her mind to link with their machine. But strangely enough that compulsion wasn't there anymore, although the memory still hounded her. She raised her hand to her left temple, then her right before moving it across her entire face.

The things they had attached to her were gone! But how and why? Where was she? Stupid woman, don't just ask yourself that if you don't know the answer, ask them! "Where am I? Who are you? What happened?"

The man seemed to think before answering, was he trying to decide which lie to tell or what question to answer first? "I am Doctor Joe and you are on board a starship. We found you and several others several weeks ago but it took us a while before we knew how to remove the implants. We removed the implants from several others to see if there were any complications before we operated on you because of your extra passenger."

Why were they on a starship instead of a station or colony? And why call a spaceship a starship? Then she realized that she could feel the minds of everybody in the Medlab, except for this doctor. Even when he had touched her when she woke up, she couldn't get a reading. Some of the minds here were definitely alien and she didn't recognize the symbol or the equipment here. "What are you?"

The doctor seemed to be taken aback by this question, then he answered. "I am the Medical Hologram of the USS _Odyssey_."

A hologram? How could a hologram touch me? "This is not an Earth Alliance ship." It was not a question.

"No, you are on board a Federation vessel. But if you want, you can go back to Earth in a few weeks. I am afraid that although we were capable of repairing most of the neural damage, there is still some left and you still have memories of the painful procedure. I want to keep you here for 24 hours for observation and then you get quarters here or on the station."

"What station are you talking about and what is the Federation?"

"We are currently near Babylon 5 and as for the Federation, well that is a long story and you have plenty of time to hear after you have rested." And with that he gently laid her down on the bed again. She tried to mutter a denial but sleep overwhelmed her now that she was safe, at least for the time being.

TBC


	13. Reactions and actions

Reactions and actions  
  
Babylon 5  
Londo Mollari was not happy, and at the same time, he was. Adira would be back on the station in a day, but the news that Refa had given him was bad. He had managed to get that idiot to sever his ties with Mr. Morden and his associates, but now Refa had convinced the emperor to begin another war. This time they were going after the Federation, starting with that tiny ship patrolling the region.

Refa was convinced that they could take the ship and learn its secrets after which they could take the small Federation colony. But he had not seen what Mollari had, those ships were even stronger than Refa thought and he was not so sure that the Federation was so small. They were reluctant to say anything but there were clues that they were a major power in their region of space.

He would have tried to stop it if he had known about it sooner but he only heard from it when Refa called him to give him instructions in the event that the ship managed to get a distress signal of telling who attacked the Federation ship. That was more then an hour ago, and still no news.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

He was reading a report about their studies of hyperspace and the possibility of using warp engines while in hyperspace when Boris called him. He was angry that the Centauri had attacked them but infuriated because they had lost 3 crewmembers because of the attack. He had called Sheridan, said that he wanted to meet him and had asked Sheridan to invite Ambassador Mollari too.

He was now entering Sheridan's office and he saw that the ambassador was already there. He couldn't hide his anger and quickly took a seat. "Greetings, I am sure you are wondering why I wanted to talk to you immediately and why I wanted Ambassador Mollari to be present also."

"What happened?" Sheridan asked. Londo had a good idea what he wanted to talk about. So the ship had managed to relay what had happened. This would be a big problem and of course he would have to clean up the mess.

"An hour ago, the Salvador was attacked by a fleet of warships and during that attack the ship sustained severe damage as well as loosing 3 valued crewmembers." Londo noticed that he hadn't used the word captured, had the attack failed?

"The fleet was Centauri and consisted of 8 Vorchans and 2 battlecruisers, they used a transport filled with Narn as bait. They blew up the transport ship when the _Salvador_ was close enough, killing 34 people that were still on board! We only managed to save twelve of them and they had clearly suffered from abuse. Apparently the Centauri government believes that our trade with other races is an act of war against the Centauri Republic. I would like to hear an explanation and the guarantee from the ambassador that this won't happen again."

"What happened to our ships?"

"One Primus and five of the Vorchans were destroyed, the rest fled after that."

Londo looked shocked about that and Sheridan could imagine why. That little ship had taken on a Centauri fleet and not only had it survived; they had actually defeated them! But he was very disappointed that the Centauri had stooped so low. The ambassador had to know about the attack, but hadn't stopped it. "I too want an explanation and I am going to warn you Londo, that if your government tries to pull that stunt at Babylon 5, I am going to defend the Federation ships." Not that they seemed to need that, apparently they had restrained themselves when they had defended Babylon 5.

"I am afraid that I will have to confer with my government about this, so I cannot give you any official response at this time. However, the Centauri Republic does not take any unjustified actions, Captain Walker. So I would not hold my breath waiting for that apology, yes? Now, if that was all, I have to contact the homeworld. A good day, gentlemen."

They watched him leave. "On the bright side, I don't think anybody else will try to attack one of our ships now. We left a pretty big debris field behind so the word on this will spread, should make Boris' job easier. Those raiders will be too scared to try anything near Babylon 5."

"You said that you had lost three of your people, are there still a few in critical condition or was nobody else injured?"

"Hmm, no nobody else. Some minor injuries and a few had plasma burns but nothing life threatening. I had hoped that the Centauri would back off now that they had gambled and lost."

"They had stopped attacking everybody until now. By the way, why did you want me to be at this meeting?"

"Because it happened near Babylon 5 and you should be aware of it. Plus, the _Salvador_ got attacked when they were carrying out a part of our agreement."

"I see, well if that was all then I am going to have to ask you to leave. I am expecting the Brakiri and the Gaim, we are going to talk about the Shadow attacks in their area."

"I was about to leave anyway. Goodbye."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Their technology is too far advanced beyond our own." The Brakiri ambassador was desperate. "We can not defend ourselves against this new enemy without help. Is there anything that Earth can do?"

Why did he ask? He knew that I am not in a position to ask anything from Earth or speak for them. He told the ambassador that.

"Our military is hopelessly outnumbered. We lost many ships in our recent wars with our neighbors."

"You are all in the same position, unable to defend yourselves. I can't believe you would have trusted the Shadows when they said they were on your side. They just wanted you to waste your resources fighting each other."

"We thought they recognized our value over theirs."

"It's not about value. It's....I...I don't know what it is. I don't know exactly what the Shadows want." It was a good question, what is their plan? What do they want? "But they are not on anybody's side but their own. I have asked the representative of the Gaim to join us here, because they are the closest major civilization in your sector of space. Ambassador Shelah, there are four other worlds in your area that could help the Brakiri. They said that they would only consider it if your people got involved. Will you?"

The answer came immediately through their translator. "No."

That was short. "And why not?"

"We are not attacked yet." Occasionally you could hear the chirps and clicks that formed the native Gaim language. "May not be attacked. If we join the Brakiri, we are noticed. We invite attack."

"They are going to come for you sooner or later, you must know that?"

"You do not know that. What they do not see, they may not attack. The enemy is powerful. Show us you have equal power, then we will consider. If not, we will stay quiet. Do you have equal power?"

Equal power? But the Shadows vessels were stronger then any other ships of the other races, except for the Vorlons, of course. He only had the station and of course he could call on Draal... Stupid, he should have thought about that sooner. "Yes, I have."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Nobody wants to fight a war unless they know there's at least a chance of winning. You can give them that hope. I am only asking that you take out one or two of their ships, show them that the Shadows aren't invincible."

"There are only a few of us, Captain Sheridan. And we usually don't start a fight, but this Shadow rampage should be stopped. I will talk to the other Captains, but even I am not sure if we should help you with this."

"Why not? People are dying out there, whole worlds are being destroyed! Why shouldn't you help?"

He had seen what those Shadows had done with the telepaths they had rescued. Helping Sheridan would be the right thing to do, but it would mean endangering his people. They didn't have much data on the capabilities of the Shadow vessels except what they had learned from the fighters they had encountered and the devastation they left behind. "What if they attack Babylon 5 in retaliation? Even with our upgrades, the station wouldn't last long against even two of those ships."

"That is a chance I am willing to take, but aren't you worried they will attack your station, Captain Walker?"

"Yes I am. But we would take several of them with us and I am counting on the fact that they don't know much about us. They wont risk an attack without being sure that they will win." And if he accepted Sheridan's request, those Shadows would think twice before trying a direct assault. But it would make them notice us. Like they were so hard to miss! "I will talk with the others, you will have our reply within the hour."

Walker was in deep thought for a while after Sheridan left. Then he tapped his combadge. "Walker to Thalev."

"Here, Captain."

"Commander, I want you to move our guests to DSB and recall shore leave for the crew."

"Where are we going?"

"I don't know yet if we are going, but if we have to go I want to be able to leave right away. Walker out."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

His talk with Londo hadn't gone as he had hoped. But all was not lost and he had just seen one possibility to change Londo's mind. "Hello, Vir."

"I, I am sorry. I can't talk, I've got things to do."

"Apparently so. Anything I can do to help?"

"Ehm, short of dying? No, can't think of a thing." With that Vir left, leaving a puzzled Morden behind. Well, he had expected something like this but all was not lost. He had seen with whom Vir had talked and now he walked up to the man. "I am sorry to bother you. I am looking for Vir Cotto, I was supposed to meet him here."

"You just missed him."

"I had some details to work out with him."

"Details, huh?"

"Yes, I think that he was going to talk to you about them. Perhaps you could just tell me what I missed?"

A few minutes later a happy Morden left. He now knew how he could hurt Mollari and convince him that he would need the services of his associates. Of course the trail couldn't lead to him, but he knew who to contact on Centauri Prime so that Londo would think it was Lord Refa who had ordered Adira killed instead of him.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

It hadn't been such a long debate after all. They all agreed that what the Shadows were doing was wrong and should be stopped. And with each day it became more likely that they wouldn't get back to their own universe, which meant that they would have to make a home here. They couldn't take on the entire shadow fleet but they could destroy one of the raiding parties and that was what they were going to do.

He had informed Sheridan of their decision and he had told his crew about the mission they were about to undertake. They would hit the Shadows hard and fast, not ordering them to leave first. They wouldn't listen anyway. Since it was Brakiri space that was hit the hardest, they were going there. In particular a system the Shadows had attacked three times already, although nobody could tell if they would attack a fourth time.

They were using their slipstream drive to get there since the benamite crystals were decaying rapidly now. It wouldn't be long before they would be stuck using normal warp again, although they now had hyperspace as well. But hyperspace was still unfamiliar territory for them although they were working on it. On the view screen he could see the blue green tunnel that allowed them to travel so fast.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Sheridan was waiting in the war room. No word yet from the _Odyssey,_ but they hadn't had any reports of a Shadow attack either.

"Captain, I just got word of another Shadow attack in Brakiri space. It started about an hour ago." Ivanova told him.

"Anything else?"

"No, no sign of the _Odyssey_ yet. The Brakiri are completely outgunned."

"Keep monitoring and let me know the moment anything changes." He then heard the doors open and in came the representatives of various governments. Delenn was leading them in; he could see the ambassador from the Brakiri, the Gaim, the Drazi, the Lumati and the Pak'ma'ra.

It wasn't long before the news came in. "Captain, the _Odyssey_ is engaging Shadow vessels."

"The Federation ship?" the Brakiri ambassador asked

"Who is winning?"

TBC

DSB = Deep Space Babylon


	14. Here comes the Federation

**Here Comes the Federation**

**USS _Odyssey_**  
They had received word that the Shadows were indeed attacking the system and now they were only seconds away from commencing battle. Captain Walker wouldn't take any chances in this fight and had ordered Mister Iceren to deploy the armour and raise shields. Then they dropped out of the slipstream and the field of stars returned to the viewscreen.

Beautiful as it was, the Shadow fleet detracted from that beauty. Apparently they had detected something, because they were now turning around to face his ship. Walker didn't waste any time giving his orders. "Fire quantum torpedoes, Mister Iceren. Launch fighters."

There were four battlecrabs and the _Odyssey_ fired one torpedo at each one. Four pulsating blue orbs streaked across space towards their targets. One of the battlecrabs had just spat out a black ball, but before the fighters could disperse the torpedo impacted, vaporizing the fighters but they saved the Shadow ship. Another battlecrab was fast enough to fire its slicer beam at the torpedo and was also saved.

The other two weren't so lucky and got hit by the quantum torpedoes. Energy washed over them, obscuring sensors of every ship, but afterwards only debris remained of the black ships. The other battlecrabs froze for a second as they took in what had just happened. Then they reacted quickly spitting out fighters of their own while moving away from the ship that had just destroyed two of their own with ease.

In the back of the _Odyssey_ a part of the armour dissolved to reveal the open hangar and six Peregrine fighters that were already taking off. As soon as they had left the ship, the armour reappeared while the fighters began taking out the Shadow fighters and scouts. Their shields protected them for now but they were drained steadily by enemy fire.

Captain Walker had seen the results of their first strike and was now giving more orders. "Ensign, attack pattern Delta. Mister Iceren, concentrate your fire on the battlecrabs and leave the fighters to our own." The Sovereign class ship quickly accelerated to full impulse and lashed out with phaser beams, occasionally hitting a Shadow fighter, but they were mostly trying to hit the battlecrabs. They were nimble and avoided several beams while the others only made gashes in the hide of the organic ships.

"Phasers aren't having enough effect," Informed Lieutenant Commander Iceren. "Their armour is very dense and it is somehow dispersing the phaser beam across its hull." The battlecrabs had positioned themselves on opposite sides of the ship and now they retaliated, firing their purple energy beam at the little ship.

He felt the ship rock. "Did they get through?"

"No, sir." Commander Thalev looked down on his console again. "They seem to be using some kind of coherent energy beam of incredible power, our shields only stopped 75 percent of it but the rest got through. If our armour wasn't deployed we would have sustained heavy damage."

They would have to take them out quickly, that last attack had dropped the shields to 45 percent. "Helm, change heading to face the port battlecrab and move in. Mister Iceren target the port battlecrab with two quantum torpedoes and prepare to fire a full spread of photon torpedoes from the aft launchers."

The ship turned about and moved towards the battlecrab that was on its left. The battlecrab that was now behind the _Odyssey_ swiftly moved in, hoping to land a devastating blow against the ship. First the Federation ship fired the two quantum torpedoes at the battlecrab in front of it, then suddenly four orange colored energy orbs left the back of the ship. The battlecrab didn't have enough time to react, ran straight into the four torpedoes and was blown into pieces. The other battlecrab did have enough time and phased into hyperspace before the torpedoes reached it.

Captain Walker wasn't fooled. "Keep an eye out for that battlecrab, but in the meantime help our fighters, they are getting hit hard." With the aid of the _Odyssey,_ the Peregrines made light work of the remaining enemy scouts and fighters. It was when they were chasing the one remaining scout and three fighters when Commander Thalev warned him. "I am picking up an energy surge on starboard, distance 500 kilometers."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV 

As soon as the battlecrab was back into normal space screaming, she fired her slicer beam at the infuriating little ship that had already destroyed three of her kind. But again her weapon didn't have the impact it had always had as its shield protected it from harm once more. Several wounds of her own testified that she did not have such protection and she gained an additional one when the Federation ship fired its energy beam. The pain provoked another scream, but it was cut short as two more of the blue energy balls were launched at her.

She tried to veer away and save herself but it was too late. In a brilliant explosion, the battlecrab left the universe taking with it a human that was once called Anne Sheridan.

**Babylon 5  
**"Who is winning," asked Sheridan.

"We are." And with that Ivanova pointed at the screen showing a federation ship with several fighters attacking two battlecrabs and a whole lot of shadow fighters. In the following minutes the amount of Shadow fighters dropped steadily and one of the battlecrabs was destroyed while another one had vanished.

The representatives cheered as the last battlecrab that had reappeared was destroyed. A few of the fighters and a scout managed to phase into hyperspace, but they were defeated. Sheridan had to admit that he had been a bit worried about how successful captain Walker would be. After all they weren't nearly as old as the Shadows or the Vorlons but they came through. But this left the question of why they needed so much power?

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV 

"Strange, I can barely catch my breath." Londo was waiting for Adira, holding a bouquet of flowers. Next to him was his aide, Vir. "I have been looking forward to this for so long that I feel…" The next words came out as a whisper. "By the gods, Vir." Then he managed to raise his voice again. "I feel happy! I had almost forgotten what it was like. But I don't understand, we couldn't have missed her."

He saw one of the last passengers and stopped him. "Excuse me, sir. There are more coming behind you, are there not?" He simply shook his head and moved on.

Now Londo was at a loss, he moved to follow the man but then decided to go in the opposite direction and see for himself if there was anybody left.

He saw Sergeant Zack talking to a pilot and one of the Federationists. It was the last one that noticed Londo and excused himself to talk with him. "Ah, Ambassador Mollari. I was just about to go find you to tell you what happened."

"What happened?" Adira! They had done something to Adira, probably out of revenge for the attack on their ship. "What have you done to Adira?"

"We?" He looked very puzzled. "Calm down and I will explain what happened. One of our shuttles was carrying out a routine survey mission of hyperspace when they detected a rapidly fading life sign on board a ship that was passing nearby. They brought her over to the shuttle and there they found out that her hearts had stopped functioning. They managed to keep her alive while racing back to Deep Space Babylon, our knowledge of Centauri physiology is still limited I'm afraid but thanks to the help of Doctor Franklin we managed to counteract the poison." Poison? She was poisoned. "She hasn't regained conscious yet, but we will let you know the moment she has."

Londo was in turmoil. On the one hand he was enraged that somebody had tried to hurt Adira, on the other hand he was relieved beyond words that it had failed and that she was still alive. "I would like to see her right away."

"Of course, I thought as much. There is a shuttle standing ready in Bay four."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV 

Things had seemed to go so well, and then they interfered. Those Federationists hadn't just spoiled his plan for Mollari, but now they had also directly engaged four Shadow ships and they had bested them! Only the Vorlons should have had that kind of power, but Federation technology clearly wasn't Vorlon. Their technology was radically different from what Vorlons described as being the right path for the younger races. The Vorlons were too set in their ways to make such a leap.

This was what his masters thought as well, they had already recalled all their fleets and had sent out scouts to find this Federation. They would not make the same mistake as they did a thousand years ago when they moved too soon. They had almost done it again; they had to rethink their strategy.

**Sol system, Earth Dome**  
Everything had worked out fine until now. Yes, there had been a few bumps in the road like those damned colonies trying to declare independence, but most of them had already been subdued. The news General Fontaine had brought however, was not so good.

Captain Dexter had returned with the remains of a Centauri fleet that apparently had the same bright idea as we had. They had gotten there earlier and in the following engagement they had managed to damage the Federation ship. But at a horrendous price, they lost most of their ships and several were damaged before they managed to flee! The Centauri still had better ships than the Earth Alliance, and even they couldn't stand against one tiny Federation ship!

But the worst news had just arrived, the big ship had engaged a Shadow fleet and this fleet was in even worse shape then the Centauri one. He had thought of asking Mister Morden's associates for help with this Federation but apparently they couldn't even help themselves at the moment. Clark had always striven to be in control, to be the most powerful and now that he had Earth, he found that it wasn't so powerful as it had looked.

**Babylon 5**  
Another ambassador that had observed the battle with interest was Kosh Naranek. They hadn't been ready to take on the Shadows yet, but now they had been given more time from an unexpected party. Vorlons didn't like change or surprises and Kosh was no different. Still, if they could take on a Shadow fleet on their own, then they could prove useful.

But he had to know first where they came from. His people had never met them and that meant that they were unaltered, even the humans on board those ships would see him as he was. It also explained why their technology was so radically different from what his people had deemed right for the other races. Even the Shadows didn't use that kind of technology.

There was only one way to find out what he wanted to know. They had invited every ambassador for a tour of their ship. He hadn't taken the offer yet, but now it was time.

**The Rim**  
They had already gone further than any other Earth ship, if you didn't count those Federation ships. And that was the reason they were out here, deep inside the Rim of known space. They had catalogued several new races or what was left of them but not a word or whisper of the Federation or of any of the races on board their ships.

Because they had now left the jump gate network behind, there were no reference points left, so they had to jump between normal space and hyperspace regularly to get a fix on where they were. They had just made a jump back to normal space when space suddenly changed around them. The stars vanished, to be replaced by a perfect black crisscrossing with flows of blue energy coursing through it.

Before the captain could ask what was going on or to order to reverse their course, they were through it. It was a shell; they could now see it behind them. All around them they could see ships, as far as the eye could see. There were three designs; the most numerous was an 80-meter long octahedron. It was longer then it was wide and it had a crystal on one end in the shape of a pyramid.

The second type was a rod with four fins sticking out. These fins had the shape of four half circles and each one of them had a pyramid shaped crystal on each end of them close to where they were attached to the rod. These ships were 1,200 meters long but the biggest were 3 kilometers high. These ships had the shape of a plus sign with a disc sticking out of the center. The disc only had a radius of about one kilometer and was made from another material. The disc wasn't as thick as the four beams and each of them had a pyramid shaped crystal as well. But these large ships also had a pulsating, white energy ball in the center and this was the only sign that at least something was still active, for everything else seemed to be dead.

"Where are we? Are any of those ships active?"

"No, sir. I am reading no life signs and almost no activity from the ships within scanner range. We are inside a bubble of some sort with a radius of 1 AU, I can't scan beyond that."

"This might not be the Federation homeworld but it's a prize nonetheless."

But his assessment was wrong. Although the ships were indeed on standby, the Machine that kept the space bubble in place was fully functional. It had scanned the first ship to come here in 9,897 cycles, 200 days, 15 hours and 34 seconds the moment it penetrated the shell. Its design did not belong to the Shadows, the Vorlons, the Walkers, the WaaHid or any of the other First Ones. Its technology was far behind that and the individuals in it clearly belonged to a younger race.

Minimal defensive capabilities and a large amount of sensors indicated that this was some kind of explorer ship. It followed protocol and booted up several of the ships and their crews. One of the Eyes, as they called their smallest ships, fired a green beam that disabled their engines while the Machine accessed their databanks to determine the state of the war its builders had started so long ago.

Once that was done, their computers were wiped clean and the Hands, the second class of ships, began carving up the ship before they tractored the pieces to the Machine. It would use the pieces to build new ships and new builders because the databanks had clearly shown that the war had been lost. The First Ones must have defeated the Builders but they had not found this place. It was made precisely because the Builders knew that defeat was a possibility, but it seemed that only the Lords of Chaos and the Vorlons were left and the rest didn't have the capacity to stop them.

Building takes patience.

TBC

Author's notes: So Anne Sheridan dead and Adira alive. Well, for now at least. I wanted to go in a different direction so I let Anne die and I am thinking about letting Adira live. Although I am not quite certain yet about it. I also want to take this opportunity to answer some questions that have been asked in the reviews.

Norseman: In ST ships do indeed fight at close ranges generally but this is a tactical decision in my opinion, not one forced upon them by the limitations of their weaponry as is proven in several cases. We know that at close ranges the more powerful torpedoes can't be used because that would damage your own ship as well. That is why they try in ST to fight so close to each other, so that the other can't use their more powerful weaponry. But you are right that 150,000 kilometers is a tad too much for a modified B5 fighter so I will lower it to 15,000 kilometers. Still far longer then anything of the other races, we know that the range of the Whitestar is less then 3,000 kilometers and apparently the Shadows aren't much better but for this story I have given them a larger range.

AlbertG: I got the 12 million terawatts from a quote of the TNG episode "True Q" in which Data states that the Enterprise's warp core is producing 12.75 billion gigawatts while in orbit of a planet and not on alert status. Of course the Enterprise D was a Galaxy class and not a Sovereign class but I don't think that a Sovereign would need much more power when it's defensive systems or propulsion are not operational.


	15. Questions but no answers

Author's notes: This time I am just here to answer several questions posed by some reviewers.  
X-Over: The other ambassadors have already been to the ship, it happened between chapter 8 and 9 but I decided not to describe it in the story itself and only hinted at it. You can find that in chapter 9, Mollari tells Refa that he has been to the Federation ship. Kosh however has not, but he will in this chapter.

RenS and others that have asked this question: No, these aliens have nothing to do with the Hand from Legends of the Rangers. These are the Builders and they are here with there own agenda. I am not telling anything more about them, so as not to spoil the story but I can tell you that in this story I will give an answer to why the older races have steered the younger in their direction of technological advancements. The Hands that I am referring to in the previous chapter are the second class of ships that is 1.2 kilometers long.

AlbertG: Yes, ff can be a pain. It keeps eating up my some of my bold lettering so that what you get isn't exactly as I intended it to look. I can't see why some of it gets eaten by fanfiction and some if it doesn't but I will struggle on. I don't think that I have ended the discussion about power ratings, this argument has already been used in it if I am not mistaken.

Zarathos1: I take it that you are referring to the Technical Manual that states that a phaser bank of a Galaxy class starship only needs 5.1 megawatts and a phaser array only needs 1.05 gigawatts. I don't know if this is cannon but the on screen evidence contradicts this and I am going with what I have seen supplemented by this kind of information if it doesn't contradict what was seen on TV. In the Enterprise series they are using phase cannons with a maximum power output of 500 gigajoules per cannon. It would be completely illogical if they had allocated less power to their weapons as their warp core produced more power. Therefore I will ignore the TM.

Your second remark was that first contact went to easy. But I think you forgot how much time passed and what happened in that time. Also, the Voyager series has shown that different Federation captains have different views about the Prime directive. As to meddling with the internal affairs of a universe, they are now inhabitants of that universe. Everything they do will be interfering into its affairs unless they fly their ships into a sun. I covered that in the story.

As for the energy dissipating capacities of Shadow armour, it can't spread the damage completely equally because it takes time for energy to travel through the material. The material also can only conduct so much energy at any moment so a lot will still be focussed on the part of the armour that was originally hit. The Vorlon ship ramming the battlecrab proves my point; the ship must already be severely damaged if it would break up so easily after being rammed by a Vorlon ship. I don't buy it that that is the normal structural integrity of a Shadow battlecrab; the Vorlon ship wasn't even slowed down by the collision.

Thecomputerroom: Sorry, but there won't be another incursion from the other universe and certainly not a Scimitar. I have no intention of making any kind of permanent link between the ST universe and the B5 universe like the one you suggested.

And I would like to thank you all for your positive reviews, I am glad that you are enjoying it. Now on with the story!

Questions but no answers

'Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.'  
Marcus Aurelius

**Epsilon Eridani, USS _Odyssey_**  
While the people on Babylon 5 celebrated, the crews of the Federation ships performed the sad duty of paying their last respects to the four that had died. The Centauri killed three of them; the other one was one of the fighter pilots of the _Odyssey_. His fighter's shields had collapsed and then his fighter hadn't lasted long, another pilot was luckier and had survived a similar ordeal, although he was still in sickbay. After they had launched the photon torpedo encasements towards the sun, Captain Walker went to his ready room to stare at the stars and think about what had happened.

He never liked loosing people even when it meant that millions had been saved. But he knew that there would be casualties when he said that he would help. Tuvol had told him that Ambassador Kosh wanted to speak with him, odd behavior for a Vorlon, from what he had heard. Might as well speak with him now and see what he wants. "Good morning Ambassador, I heard that you wanted to speak with me?"

Kosh was in his encounter suit as usual, so when he spoke you could hear all kinds of other noises that were hard to place. Some sounded like an alien language, other sounds were more musical in nature. "Yes." Captain Walker didn't respond, he was just waiting for him to say what it was about and Kosh seemed to be waiting for something as well, but after a few awkward moments of silence he spoke. "In person."

"I would prefer that we talk on my ship."

"Acceptable."

"A shuttle will be waiting for you in Bay 6, I will wait for you in our shuttle bay. Parker out."

Minutes later Boris barged into the room. He didn't waste any time with pleasantries and got right to the point. "What are we going to do about those damn Centauri?"

"What do you propose we do, captain." Walker remained calm. "We have already shown them that we can defend ourselves and we can't go out and start shooting at anything Centauri, now can we?"

"Damn, you're right. But they killed three members of my crew and for what? Technology!" He spat the last word out.

"I know, I am disappointed and angry too. But we are only a few among billions, our survival depends on maintaining friendly relations with Babylon 5 and as many of the governments as possible. And I shouldn't have to remind you that we are Starfleet officers."

"No, you don't." Santowitz sighed. "I hear that the Science department wants to install yet another jump engine in my ship?"

"Yes, they want to install one that doesn't use Quantium 40 and it's more robust. Of course we tested it already except not on a actual ship. And you are the lucky one to get the first try."

"Why can't they test their new toy on your ship?"

"Simple, I told them to install it on yours first."

Santowitz just laughed. "I see, well I am going to take a shower and do some rock climbing to get rid of this frustration."

After Santowitz had left, Walker kept staring at the door for a moment. Should he have told about their newest patient and guest in sickbay? Nah, it wasn't relevant and he might barge into sickbay demanding some answers. Then he would have to deal with the Doctor again, about not disturbing a still weak patient.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

He had been sitting here for hours, staring at her sleeping face, berating himself for giving her that broach that told everyone that she was with him. It had made her a target and he should have though about that, but to whom? It had to be Refa, but that fool would have contacted him by now to gloat. Who else would do this to such an innocent being?

It was then that Adira woke up and the first thing she saw was Londo Mollari, Ambassador of the Centauri Republic. Although the worried look didn't seem right, as it was a look he almost never had. But that look quickly changed into relief as he looked into her eyes.

"Londo, where am I? The last thing I remember was that I didn't feel well and laid down to rest."

"You are in a hospital near Babylon 5." He wasn't sure if he should tell her that she was poisoned or just tell her that she fell ill. "You were poisoned, these people rescued you. You have been sleeping for more than a day now." As Londo was talking to Adira, Doctor Joe was hovering near his patient. He had been alerted when she woke up and he wanted to talk to her to see if everything was fine.

In the end he decided he would just have to intrude on their conversation. "Ah, I see that you are awake. You had us worried for a while but everything went well in the end. So how are you feeling?"

"I feel weak and I am hungry. But apart from that I am fine."

"Good to hear. Rest and food will solve those problems; I will get you some food now. And Ambassador, I am afraid that I will have to ask you to leave soon so that she can get some rest."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

The shuttle was just high enough to allow him to stand, obviously the designers hadn't counted on transporting a Vorlon or any other creature as tall as a Vorlon in his encounter suit. They had just landed and there was the person he wanted to speak with. The human felt the need to speak of course. "Ambassador Kosh, welcome to the _Odyssey_." He didn't seem nervous or in awe of the Vorlon which was another confirmation that they did not belong here.

He did not speak, why should he? So Captain Walker simply asked to follow him and together they left the shuttlebay. Walker gave him the same tour that had been given to the other ambassadors, except for the fact that it was the captain and not his first officer giving the tour. It could be respect but to Kosh it looked more like curiosity.

Kosh was certain that he felt a Shadow presence here, although not a Shadow. After the tour was over, they could finally speak with each other. The only reason that Kosh had endured this was because he had to see their technology for himself. Now they had time for more important matters, he just wanted to demand answers but that wouldn't fit with the image that he had constructed of himself. "I sense Shadows."

The human looked surprised, but recovered quickly. "Yes, we recovered some debris from the Shadow vessels we destroyed yesterday. We are studying it now, quite interesting. We haven't met that many species that use organic ships."

The iris of his encounter suit narrowed at the mentioning of studying Shadow tech. But dilated again when he told him that they had met several species that use organic ships. Only the First Ones should have organic ships and it is clear that he is not referring to either the Vorlons or the Shadows. "Who are you?"

Normally he already knew the answer to that question, or at least knew what to expect. But now he was interested in the answer. "Captain Peter Walker, Starfleet officer. But if you are asking where do we come from, then I must say that we are a long way from home."

"You defeated the Shadows, why did you need that much power?" Indeed why? If they hadn't met the Shadows before then that meant that there was another race out there with an equal amount of power.

He seemed to think about how to answer the question for a moment. "Were we come from, there are enemies that are just as powerful as we are and those that are even more powerful. We developed our weapons to defend ourselves against those that were more powerful because they could not be reasoned with. They had no interest in diplomacy, only in taking everything they desired."

So they had encountered beings even more powerful then them and these Federationists seemed to be on par with the Vorlons in weapons technology. But there were more important things then who had the biggest weapon, for all their technology they were still a younger race. And a race that had not been guided by them or the Shadows, yet they seemed to have faired very well. Kosh didn't like the implication of that and quickly asked another question.

"What is the Federation?" He had heard the rumors and stories of course. Simply because he kept to himself didn't mean that he was oblivious to what happened around him, he made sure of that.

"The Federation was founded more then 200 years ago by the Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites and us humans for their mutual benefit and protection. Over the years many others joined and today we have over 150 members. The Federation is founded on the belief that we can coexist peacefully."

That kind of thinking was certainly different from how the races thought in this part of the galaxy. They seemed to be convinced of the necessity of order but they didn't have the proper respect for the races that came before them. Especially for the Vorlons, they had learned that this was a very dangerous combination. "You do not belong here. Leave. Now." And with that the Vorlon turned around, ready to leave.

"What makes you the one to decide were we belong?"

Kosh turned around again. "Impudent."

"I am not the one telling you to pack up and leave. So I ask you, who do the Vorlons think they are?"

"Kosh, we are all Kosh." And with that the ambassador left, leaving a mystified Walker behind. As he made his way to the shuttle he sensed the security guard following him. Kosh ignored him and thought about the conversation he just had. It could have gone better but Kosh wasn't accustomed to dealing with unaltered races. It had thrown him of balance and he didn't have experience in being diplomatic.

That was ironic considering he was the Vorlon 'Ambassador' here, but Ambassador was simply a roll they played. And apparently not very well or things would have worked out better then they had. Telling them to leave was an instinctual response to what they were, not one born out of wisdom. They could use them to distract the Shadows and buying enough time to complete the preparations.

They would finally prove to the Shadows that they were wrong and that the Vorlons were right. That order was the path that the younger races should follow and that evolution was just messy and no longer had a use. But Kosh felt a nagging guilt about the way many of the others wanted to prove they were right. To him it seemed that it was the wrong way to show the right path.

The Rim  
The machine had finished reactivating the fleet and their crews had checked all systems. The alien ship hadn't provided much construction material and only two additional Eyes and 40 Builders could be constructed. The space bubble had served its purpose and now it was no longer needed. The black and blue shell dissolved revealing space and a multitude of stars.

First the machine made contact with the Network that they had constructed so long ago. It was still active although several nodes had been damaged or destroyed. They would have to rebuild the Network before they could begin with phase one. They needed a base of operations, a place were they could construct more ships and more Builders.

The Network gave them the information they needed, the location of the nearest uninhabited system. They couldn't tip off the First Ones that they had failed. Not yet anyway. The fleet opened up a passageway to the Fold and entered it. Within half an hour, there wasn't a trace left of what had dwelt there for so long.

TBC


	16. Argument and disappointment

Argument and disappointment

'Every man is to be respected as an absolute end in himself; and it is a crime against the dignity that belongs to him to use him as a mere means to some external purpose.'  
Immanuel Kant

Centauri Prime  
Instead of the triumphant return Captain Salpe had envisioned, he now returned in a battered ship, towed no less! He had waited to send a report until now, hoping somehow that the emperor would have died in the meantime. No such luck and now Admiral Dolfi demanded to know what had happened. Where was their prize and where was Lord Talle? He gulped. "My lord, I regret to inform you that Captain Talle was killed in our attack on the Federation ship." He had considered lying and whipping the records but one of his subordinates might talk and the Federation vessel would certainly have records of its own. He shuddered. "We lost 5 of our Vorchans and my ship along with another Vorchan was incapacitated in the final attack of the _Salvador_."

"You are telling me that a puny ship like that bested your entire fleet! What incompetence is this?"

"Yes, my lord. I am saying that the Federation ship managed to beat us single-handedly. The battle went well at first, the _Salvador_ was damaged and fleeing but then it turned around and attacked us." He was very glad they hadn't tried an assault on one of the larger ships. He wouldn't be standing here if they had. Although that had its attractions, he doubted Talle had felt much before his body was vaporized. He would not be so lucky.

"They used some kind of pulse variant of their energy weapon that took out several Vorchans rapidly, but that wasn't the biggest problem. After taking out four of them the Federation ship proceeded with firing some kind of missile at Lord Talle's ship. The resulting explosion completely destroyed it and knocked out my ship as well as two Vorchans. After that the _Salvador_ turned around again and moved away towards the jumpgate. Given the state of our fleet at that time I ordered the two functional ships to each tow one and we retreated."

The admiral seemed to have lost his anger and was now looking stunned. "What do you mean with 'completely destroyed'?"

"The battlecruiser was vaporized, the biggest piece of the ship left was 5 meters long. We lost almost all of our fighters in that explosion."

The admiral seemed to think for a moment. "This is not the news we were expecting, the emperor has been most anxious to hear of your success. You will go down to the surface now and inform the Emperor of your failure, I will announce your arrival." With that the line was closed, leaving Salpe to ponder how Cartagia would kill him. Hopefully it would simply be a beheading.

He had retold the story again to Emperor Cartagia and he was now congratulating himself on still being alive. Of course the Emperor was furious, but not on him and that was all that mattered to him now.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

He hadn't received any news but the rumors spoke of a defeated fleet arriving only an hour ago. Refa had a bad feeling about this, especially after being summoned by Cartagia. He hastened through the corridors because he feared the Emperor like everybody else. Although he had thought to use him as a puppet, things hadn't worked out that way. He had underestimated the instability of his mind and now Centauri Prime was paying the price for it.

The emperor was admiring himself in the mirror, or to be more precise he was looking at the short haircut he had. "You called for me, my Emperor?"

Cartagia didn't seem to hear him but then suddenly turned around. "Yes, we did. News has arrived of the results of your little plan, Lord Refa. And we are not happy with them!" Refa tried to formulate a response but he couldn't understand how it could have gone wrong. Instead of trying to appease the volatile leader he simply blurted out the question that was racing through his mind. "What went wrong?" He hastily added a "my Emperor" to it.

"Lord Dolfi has just informed me that the fleet we had sent out to capture that tiny little ship of the Federation humans has failed! Apparently their firepower and shield were far more powerful then you said; you gave me bad advice Refa. I am very disappointed."

That sounded like a death sentence to Refa and the terror of that prospect made his mind go blank. He couldn't think of any excuse or anybody to blame, he just stood there as Cartagia waited for a reply. When Refa didn't say anything, Cartagia just smiled and continued. "You are a fool, Refa. And an emperor has no need for foolish advice. Guards! Take him away, we have already decided how we can make an example out of you." And then Cartagia began to laugh and Refa didn't hear him stop as he was dragged to his cell.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Refa wished that they had killed him, or at least used a Centauri punishment! Instead Cartagia had been delighted to use this old Human form of punishment. His hands and head were securely fastened to this 'pillory' as the humans called it. There two baskets a few meters in front of him, one filled with pebbles and the other with vegetables. And everyday the children of the city came to see who could throw better while the nobles showed their loyalty after lunch. He had heard that the emperor watched that little display every day and that he couldn't stop laughing. Oh why couldn't he have just killed him, a beheading would be preferable to this!

**Hyperspace, two days away from Centauri Prime**  
He had to leave quickly after his plans had failed. Those Federationists had saved Adira but had also begun to scan the station for his masters and they seemed to be having problems in evading the scans. They had also interfered in the plans of his masters but they now had new plans. And all these things led him to this transport en route to Centauri Prime.

They wanted him to represent their interests there. Find a sympathetic ear or ears that would be interested in continuing on the path his masters had intended for the Centauri. He would try Refa first; perhaps he would be willing to listen when confronted in person. And if that proved to be impossible, he could go to Cartagia. He had heard promising things of the emperor and he would probably agree after seeing the big picture. The smile that now crawled across mister Morden's face was not promising pleasant things, for anyone.

Deep Space Babylon  
He had finally managed to sneak away and get back here. He was overjoyed when he had heard that Carolyn had been freed from those implants and that she was recovering. For days he hadn't been able to stop smiling, something that raised quite a few eyebrows at the Corps. Not even the welcome he had received here could gall his mood. They used telepaths on their security force, very interesting, but they weren't all telepaths.

They entered the bar, he had heard that they even had such facilities on their larger spaceships! Such a luxury on a warship was a stupid idea; it just showed how different these people were. But there was no denying that their ships were powerful, he had heard of the battles with the Earth Alliance and the Centauri. Then he spotted her, sitting at a table near the window. He approached her and didn't know what to say for a moment. But he didn't have to because she had already felt him. "I had heard that you had arrived."

"I came as soon as I could, but how are you? And how is our child?"

She smiled. "We are both fine, Alfred. These people managed to get everything out, I only have a few nightmares and those are getting less."

"I... missed you. There is no one at home for me to talk to. But now you can come home with me, back to Mars."

Now she hesitated. "The Corps might be your home, but it isn't mine. I want to stay here. These people aren't afraid of telepaths nor will they force me to wear that awful uniform."

Her last comment was an attempt to diffuse the situation; it failed. "The Corps is the right place for all telepaths, how can you even consider staying here with these mundanes!"

"No it isn't. The Psicorps was a bad idea from the start and I won't have our daughter brought up there!"

"Do you really think these mundanes would let you stay here?"

"I know they would and they aren't all mundanes. I have already asked Captain Walker and he agreed. Besides, I am not the only one, a lot of the people that were freed wanted to stay here, some of them even asked to join Starfleet!"

"And he accepted them?" Bester couldn't believe it.

"Oh yes. Although they wouldn't be accepted if they failed training and they were told that they might never see Earth again if they found a way back home."

"I see. I'll see you soon." Bester turned and left. If he couldn't convince Carolyn to go back with him, perhaps Walker could be persuaded.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

Whoever said being Captain was easy? Not somebody that was a captain, that was sure. He knew what Bester wanted to talk about and he knew that Bester wouldn't be happy with his reply. "I can understand that you want to be close to her Mr. Bester, but she has asked for asylum and I see no reason to withhold it. I have seen what your organization did to her and countless others, not to mention the fact that you are already married to someone else Mr. Bester. And that in itself is also another argument against the Psicorps, a breeding program!" Walker sounded disgusted.

"You do not understand, Captain. Our child will most likely be a telepath and will need the support and care that only her own kind can provide."

"Last time I checked Mister Bester, you were still human. But if you are referring to telepaths, we have several with those abilities on board. Not to mention that her mother is a telepath too so why would see need her own kind as you put it?"

"Are you going to deny that girl her own father?"

"Of course not. You are welcome to visit any time you like. But I am afraid that given your job in the Psicorps we will have to let a guard escort you any time you go out in public while you are on this station."

Bester seemed to be looking for another reason why he should take the mother and child with him back to the Psicorps. Walker wondered if he would try to use his task of bringing back runaway telepaths now. That wouldn't work either of course, Psicorps had no jurisdiction here and would only prove that Miss Sandersons needed asylum.

"Very well Captain, I would like to stay here for another day or two before I go back."

"I will order some guest quarters prepared for you near those of miss Sandersons, good day mister Bester."

Captain Walker returned his attention to a report from Lieutenant Gizkis about a missing level in an area of Babylon 5 called Grey sector.

**VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV**

She took a minute to admire the view. The Churchill had been stripped of her remaining armour and you could see hundreds of men and women working on her exposed systems. The work was coming along fine, the engines had already been replaced, the fusion reactors had been upgraded and the laser/particle cannons had been removed. The biggest piece of work: installing a new habitat section was almost finished. They were still busy with placing the gravity plating, installing the duotronic computer systems and they hadn't even started with the polarized hull plating so they were looking at least another month before she could take her ship for a test flight.

Captain Sandra Hiroshi couldn't wait to take her out and she what she could do. The Churchill would be the most advanced Earth Alliance ship in existence, perhaps even the most advanced ship of the younger races with the exemption of the Federation ships of course. But once her ship was ready, it would mean she would have to fight her colleagues in Earthforce again and those Shadow creatures. Captain Sheridan had told them all about those things more then a week ago and she still found it hard to believe at times. For now she would just concentrate on getting her ship flying again and on a certain Federation captain.

The Rim  
They had arrived at the target coordinates and the lead ship opened up a doorway to normal space. Half the fleet left the Fold first to scout ahead, then the machine followed along with almost every other ship. A few hadn't waited and had already moved of to begin repairing the damage to the Network.

The machine had been made to perform two tasks and it had carried out the first one for nearly ten thousand years. It had managed to hide the fleet in the space bubble from the First Ones and now it would be instrumental in rebuilding the facilities they needed to carry out their task. Asteroids were already being towed to the machine but now it would not just build ships and Builders. It would also build the necessary construction yards and maintenance facilities.

TBC


	17. Wars and their stations

Author's notes: It's been a while since the last update but here is the next chapter of my story. I will now answer some of the questions you asked.

Agent-G: No, this is not the Vorlon fleet but the fleet of the Builders. Lyta Alexander will of course make an appearance but on the show she only arrived on the station a while after the Vorlon attack on the Shadows. In my story she will arrive on the station in the next chapter. I might slip a line in somewhere alluding to the resemblance of Bester but those kinds of coincidences won't play a part in this story.

Worker72: Poor Refa indeed! But I have plans for him. There are actually only a few that have joined, the rest aren't comfortable with surrendering even a little bit of their recently gained freedom or aren't comfortable with the high morality of Starfleet. That idea for a death penalty is not very useful here since they don't know that the Federation doesn't have a death penalty. Perhaps even the penalty for visiting the planet you mentioned could have been changed in the meantime so I won't be using it. (That and the fact that I never saw the episode.)

X-Over: It amazed me how long it took for someone to ask those questions. Perhaps the rest is content to wait until it is revealed and I wouldn't want to disappoint them. The Builders are on their own side and as for the question if they are a threat to the universe. It wouldn't be much fun if they weren't, now would it?

AaronA: Thanks, I do try to keep a good pace but I tend to write a lot in just a few sentences but I believe that I am improving. But you can be the judge of that. I am thinking of doing a bit more with the Minbari but I mainly added it to get a Minbari's perspective on the arrival of the Federation and to introduce Neroon who will make an appearance soon.

The Sithspawn: The Builders are something that I thought up, because with the technological gap that exists even between the Shadows and the Federation the story would quickly become a bit boring. I also wanted to destroy Z'Ha'Dum and since the Federation wouldn't do such a thing, I had to find another way. The Shadow war in this timeline will only be a prelude to the ..... war and even the Shadow war itself will happen differently then you saw on the show.

Kickaha: Yes, I know. My betareader told me too and I try to guard against making the mistake but it slips through from time to time. And thanks for the recommendation and thanks to all those other loyal readers who take the time to post a small or long review each time I post a new chapter.

Ouke No Ki: Yep, big bad uber villain but with a great background story that will be revealed in a later chapter.  
  
Wars and their stations

'You can never plan the future by the past.'  
-Edmund Burke

**Epsilon Eridani, USS Odyssey**  
He was on the bridge when Lieutenant T'nal called him. "Captain, Astrometric sensors have detected a temporal anomaly forming in Sector 14. We have also detected a tachyon beam emanating from the planet below us aimed at the anomaly."

"Are you saying that somebody is creating the anomaly?"

"It would appear so, we are receiving a message originating from the anomaly. Patching it through."

They listened to a garbled message sent by someone they knew. "They're coming through," Ivanova's voice cried out desperately, "repeat, they're coming through. This is Earth Alliance Station Babylon 5. They're all over the place! They're killing us. Can anyone hear me? They're killing us!"

"T'Nal was that all or is there more?"

"The transmission appeared to be longer and it also contained a visual component but we lost the feed, perhaps we can retrieve more of the data if we get closer to the temporal rift."

"Let me talk to Babylon 5 first, send them the message too. Any indication as to when this message was sent?"

"It appears that it will be sent in 8 days from now."

"That gives us some time. Tell Commander Hett to get the hyperspace sensors online now. Those just became our top priority and tell Captain Tuvol to get back to the station, it seems that exploration has to take a backseat again."

Babylon 5  
They had listened to the transmission and a computer analysis confirmed that it was indeed Ivanova sending the distress call.

"It has to be a fake, I have never sent out a distress call like that."

"Maybe you haven't sent it yet. The signal is coming from Sector 14, that is where Babylon 4 disappeared. Ever since it was yanked through time to wherever it was going the area has been a mess. Time doesn't work right there."

"I can confirm that, our own sensors detected a weak temporal disturbance in the area but at the time of the transmission the disturbance grew in strength. The cause seems to be a tachyon beam from the surface of the planet below us. We detected a vast network of large machines underneath the surface, powered by fusion reactors. Because it wasn't a threat so far and because it was active we didn't ask about it. You have a right to your own secrets. Do you know why this is happening?"

"You mean that this isn't a natural phenomenon?" Captain Sheridan hadn't told them about Draal yet but apparently their sensors didn't have any problems finding him.

Captain Walker noticed that they were avoiding his question. But he had said they had a right to their own secrets and they didn't seemed to be very concerned with his revelation. They obviously already knew about the machine and perhaps it was an ally of them. "The temporal instability in sector 14 could well be a natural occurrence, in that case the tachyon beam simply magnified it. But given the fact that a station just happened to be constructed right there doesn't sit right with me. I believe that the entire phenomenon was created by whoever is down there. I am going on the _Odyssey_ to investigate the temporal rift and see if we can get more of the transmission."

"I should go with you, I have the most personal experience with the stuff of everybody on board. If that transmission is from the future then we need to find out what is going to happen so we can prepare for it."

Captain Walker nodded. "Very well Mister Garibaldi, we will leave as soon as you are ready."

"I can go now, shall I bring anything back from the future? Some bagels, fresh milk?"

Ivanova answered him. "Download the winning numbers of the New Vegas lottery, I will split it with you fifty-fifty."

"Sixty-forty and you got a deal."

ooooo

"We haven't had a Shadow attack in 8 days." Marcus now turned away from the map and looked directly at Sheridan, "My guess is they are reconsidering their strategy after the _Odyssey_ got involved."

Sheridan had tried to contact Draal but he only got someone called Zathras because Draal was not available. After half an hour arguing with someone that had argued with himself as much as with Sheridan, he just gave up. He was now in the war room keeping himself occupied until the _Odyssey_ arrived at the rift. They were using their impulse engines because they didn't know how the rift would react to a warp field. So now he just had to wait.

"They're worried, that means that they will hit us twice as hard when they come back."

"Assuming worst case scenario."

"The way things have gone lately, I decided to start taking Ivanova lessons."

As Sheridan said that, Delenn came in. She didn't waste time with pleasantries. "I am sorry to interrupt you, but you must come with me to the Whitestar at once."

"We are finishing up something here."

"This cannot wait." She sounded inpatient. "I am sorry, Captain. Marcus, we will need you to come along as well, also Ivanova and one other," she said just as someone was entering the room behind Sheridan.

"Who?"

"Well, it seems that I arrived here just in time." Sheridan had turned around to see who had spoken and was surprised to see Ambassador Sinclair standing there. "Captain Sheridan, Jeffrey Sinclair." Sinclair offered him his hand and he shook it. "Good to see you again."

"It's you. I haven't seen you since the Mars riots."

"Hello Marcus."

"Respects, Entil'zha."

"Well this is a surprise, I have heard a lot about you since I got here. Are you here to see one of those Federation ships for yourself?"

"Same here. You have done a remarkable job looking after the place, I couldn't have wished for better. And although I had hoped to see one of them before we go, that is not the reason for me being here."

Sheridan now turned to ask Delenn how she knew of the arrival of Sinclair in advance but the beeping of the handlink prevented him. "Never lets you finish a sentence does it?"

"You have noticed." He tapped the link and acknowledged the call.

"Captain, we just got the _Odyssey _on channel 2, they have reached the rift."

Sector 14, USS Odyssey  
They had reached the rift in record time, even their sublight engines were faster then what Earth had although that wasn't such a big surprise given the amount of power they had available to move this thing. "Captain, the rift has grown twice as big and these Federation sensors are detecting massive amounts of chronitons inside the rift."

"Chronitons, what are those?"

"Apparently these people have a bit more experience with time travel; chronitons are some kind of subatomic particle associated with temporal disturbances. At least that is what I could understand of the explanation they gave me. We are going to try to get a better transmission from that distress call from the future, we will let you know when we get it."

oooo

The next three hours were spent meticulously scanning every centimeter of the rift and they made a few interesting discoveries. The rift contained several flows of chronitons that seemed to be leading to distinct points in the timeline. In other words, the rift wasn't a standard passageway into another time but contained several doorways all leading to another time period. Starfleet had never encountered such a phenomenon before and the Science department was already hypothesizing how this was possible. They were even talking about sending in a probe but Walker had no intention of jeopardizing his ship or the timeline of this universe. Temporal disturbances were dangerous and unknown ones even more.

They were now also receiving a better quality transmission of the distress call and Walker ordered to put it on the main viewer. Now they could see an injured Ivanova standing in a C'n'C that had known better days. A fire could be seen on the left of her in the control pit. Wires were hanging from the ceiling and debris was scattered across the floor while explosions could be heard from time to time. They now also heard more of the message.

"This is Susan Ivanova of Babylon 5 to any ships in grid Epsilon. We are under attack. I repeat: we are under attack. The captain is dead, defense screen is down, the Federation station is holding for now but we just lost the _Odyssey_. They are boarding us; they are coming all over the place. We try to evacuate as many as we can but they are firing on the civilian ships as well. Garibaldi has rigged the fusion reactors but..." A warning claxon began sounding and Ivanova looked up to what must be a screen. "Oh my god. Here they come. Switch to external cameras."

They could now finally see the enigmatic attackers. There were hundreds of small ships moving slowly towards the station. Debris was floating in front of the camera but it wasn't enough to obscure the view. The _Odyssey_ could be seen drifting as well, its hull riddled with holes and its nacelles weren't glowing anymore although the port one was still venting plasma. The passing enemy ships were now ignoring the Federation ship, most of those ships were small but there were also several much larger ships supporting the smaller ones.

They all had a light brown color mixed with stripes and splotches of a different shade of brown. The small ships had a crystal in the nose and five what seemed to be nacelles of some kind sticking out of the rear body of the vessel. The larger ships had the same color pattern but looked a tad different. They looked like the hollowed out form of some animal after the head had been cut of. Two arms were pointing forward and two were pointing backward, the latter obviously contained the engines. There was also a third limb pointing forward that was attached to the vessel's belly.

Then they began to fire and the screen now only showed snow. The transmission had been cut of at the source this time.

"Do you recognize those ships, Mr. Garibaldi?" asked Captain Walker.

"No, I haven't seen anything like that in my life."

"Those ships do not resemble anything in our databanks either," offered Lieutenant Retudo. "It is safe to say that Earthforce nor the Federation has ever encountered these ships."

"Which brings up the question of why they will attack us in eight days. Contact Captain Sheridan and show him what we gathered so far."

"Sir, Captain Sheridan is no longer on Babylon 5. He, Ambassador Delenn and Commander Ivanova have boarded the White Star and are on their way here."

Captain Walker raised an eyebrow after hearing that and from the look on Garibaldi's face, he hadn't expected that either. "Then contact the White Star and relay the information to that ship."

"Already done."

Captain Walker waited several minutes before hailing them, to give them the chance to see the distress call for themselves. "I take it you don't recognize the ships either, Captain?"

"No, I don't and neither does Delenn. We are on our way to the rift now; we will be entering the rift to solve the problem. Could you take Michael back to the station?"

Garibaldi was the first to respond. "If you are going in there, I am coming with you."

"We can't have the entire command staff coming along, Michael. Right now Corwin and Stephen are the only ones still on board Babylon 5. If something happens, they won't be able to handle it and this is Babylon 5 we are talking about."

"Something always happens, I know. Ok, I'll go back."

Captain Walker now resumed his conversation with Sheridan. "The rift is very unstable, how will you control where you are going?"

"We got some equipment that will keep us safe, don't worry about that."

"I don't suppose I can persuade you not to go?"

"No, you can't."

"Very well, there was something I wanted to discuss with your security officer anyway. Just try to leave the timeline as you found it when you come back. Odyssey out."

Garibaldi gave him a questioning look. "Talk to me about what?"

TBC


	18. Grey 17 is found, part I

Author's notes: I said that it would take some time before I would update again but even I didn't think it would take this long. But before that I will answer some of your questions, keep them coming, as long as they haven't been asked and answered that is.

Agent-G: I never said the Builders were First Ones and I am not saying they aren't. What they are will be revealed in due time. I hadn't thought about Zack and Lyta but now that you mention it, I think I can do that. As to when I will update the story, I wouldn't hold your breath. It might take me another year before… Oh wait this is the update. 

Kickaha: When those Federation ships arrived in the B5 universe, the timeline as seen in the series went out the window. Some things will never happen, while other things that didn't happen will happen. As for the mysterious Builders, I was striving to make them that and to keep it like that until they make themselves known.

The fusion-powered warp drive is an idea I hadn't thought of yet, might be useful.

X-over: The Thirdspace gateway will not be in this story, neither will the Hand. The Technomages might make an appearance however.

Worker72: I never liked the idea of Section 31 and so they don't exist in my story, very simple. Warp drive was indeed dangerous until they found a way around it later on so that won't be something they could use against the Federation. Besides, the Vorlons have bigger fish to fry. As to the distress call, whether or not that event will happen might not be depended on what happens to B4. So B5 might still be attacked by that fleet,

rankokun alpha: Thanks, I will try.

**Grey 17 is found, Part I**

'As a rule, what is out of sight disturbs men's minds more seriously than what they see'  
- Julius Caesar

**USS Odyssey**  
Chief of security for the station, Michael Garibaldi, Captain Walker and his security officer Lt. Commander Iceren had moved to the Captain's ready room to continue their discussion there. Garibaldi used the opportunity to get a decent cup of coffee. These people didn't realize what a luxury something as simple as real coffee was out here. "So what did you want to talk about?"

It was Captain Walker that began talking. "As you know, we are currently in the process of replacing your outer hull with polarized hull plating." Garibaldi nodded, wondering were this was going. "We are now finishing with Red sector and we were making a scan of Grey sector to compare it with the blueprints you provided so we could begin with the preparations for that sector. Your maintenance staff had already told us that Grey sector only had 29 levels despite the fact that the blueprint showed 30." Garibaldi looked up from that, he had been the chief of security for Babylon 5 for 4 years now and this was the first time he heard about this.

"Our scans clearly showed that there were indeed 30 levels, but we couldn't get a clear reading on one of them. To your own sensors it would simply look as if the level wasn't there but our sensors are better, although the interference makes it impossible even for us to tell who or what is down there." Now that was a serious breach of security and he hadn't even noticed the missing level, let alone that somebody was hiding it. But he had a question. "How come you didn't find out sooner?"

The captain now looked at Iceren and indicated that he could continue with the story. "We didn't do a thorough scan of the station earlier as a courtesy and we still are not scanning everything, for example the Vorlon ship, although the Exobiology department has asked for that every week since they found out it was organic. But we went over our records and found that the interference field only appeared approximately 2 days after we arrived at Babylon 5."

His coffee sat forgotten on the table as Garibaldi contemplated what could be hidden there; there were still quite a lot of Nightwatch people unaccounted for. "What level is it?"

"Level 17 and I was wondering if we couldn't be of assistance, Mister Garibaldi?"

Michael now looked at Iceren. "How do you mean?"

"It is quite obvious that somebody is trying to hide from the station's authorities and was quite successful, until now. It is also clear that you will want to take action as soon as possible. My own security personnel are getting a bit rusty to be honest. We have regular drills of course, but we haven't had a serious security breach since we entered this universe and they could use some experience in the field. I was wondering if I couldn't accompany you with a small security team when you investigate this matter?"

Michael thought it over. They were right in that he would investigate Grey 17 the moment he got back on the station. And if he let one of their security teams tag along, he could leave more men to keep the order on the rest of the station, not to mention that he would get a chance to see their equipment. "You do as I say or I will personally throw you and your team out of the nearest airlock if you so much as sneeze without my say so. Do we have an understanding?"

"Apparently we do. I will show you who will be in my team and what our equipment will be. We will set our phasers to stun so you don't have to worry about us accidentally injuring someone."

"I will make a call to Zack, get your team ready because I will move in the moment we get to the station."

VVVVVV

After talking to Zack, he joined Iceren in the armory. He wanted to know what exactly they were going to bring on the station and who would be in the team, not to mention he hoped to hear more about how good those phasers were. After meeting the four other people that would be joining him and his security team, Iceren went on to give a brief review of the equipment.

He started by taking out a phaser rifle and showing Garibaldi how to use one. "This is a type three compression phaser rifle, it has sixteen power settings, fully autonomous recharge, multiple target acquisition and is gyrostablized. It can fire both pulses and beams that can either stun or vaporize. We will also be carrying these type two phasers, they can only fire beams and their energy reserve is a lot smaller then that of the rifle, but they come in handy."

"How strong exactly is a level 16 blast?"

"On level 16 I could destroy about 3,900 metric tons of rock per 0.28 second discharge. In other words, I can blow the side off a very big building by just firing once on a wide beam setting."

He had thought they would be using some kind of PPG, but this was something else. Why would they need that kind of power in a handheld weapon and more importantly, how the hell did they fit it in something so small. "I noticed that your rifle doesn't have a sight and that phaser-gun doesn't seem to be very easy to aim either."

"They don't need to be, they pretty much aim themselves, although you still need to point it at the general direction of the target and if your aim is good, it helps in response time. The rifle has both passive and active EM and subspace detectors. We can read these sensors with this." He now held up a headpiece that featured one round and green piece that would be in front of the left eye. "That is an exographic targeting sensor, it can receive data from the sensors of your phaser rifle and then displays that in the eyepiece. Of course the thing can be jammed easily and you only get limited information, but you have your hands free which is a big plus in a combat situation. We still carry tricorders because the interference on level 17 might make these useless."

Michael just had one more question, "I just got to know, are you planning on going in dressed in those pajama's or do they double up as body armour?"

"I am afraid that they don't provide protection against PPG bolts and normally we do indeed go out in these uniforms. But before we left space dock Starfleet was kind enough to send us some of these personal force fields. We were the first ship to get them, far too late if you ask me." He held up an armband with a box attached to it. There was a display on top of it, with several buttons. "It can only take a few hits from a phaser before it is depleted and even if that doesn't happen, this thing is very power hungry so it only lasts for an hour. Not to mention the fact that you light up like a lighthouse on anybody's scanners, but that won't be a problem here."

"So you get to fly across the galaxy in the most comfortable ship I have ever seen, your issued with a mini-bazooka and I'll bet your right hand man doesn't shoot you in the back. Next thing you will tell me you get paid 10 times what I am getting!"

"Actually," Iceren started. Garibaldi eyes widened a little thinking, 'the universe couldn't be that cruel could it? Oh yes it could!' "We don't get paid."

Garibaldi just stared at him. "You don't get paid? But how do you pay for anything then?"

"We don't, you see the Federation economy isn't based on money anymore. Sure, there are other races that still do so most people still have money, but we joined Starfleet to better ourselves or because we wanted to defend the Federation or we just wanted to explore the galaxy."

No money, and they were still about to risk their necks for people they had met only a couple of months before. It was incidents like these that showed how different they really were and he had to admit that their story was sounding more believable by the day. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a chirping combadge, Iceren's combadge to be precise.

He answered it and was informed by Captain Walker that they would be arriving in a few minutes. Iceren acknowledged the warning and then turned to his security team. "You heard the captain, get your gear and meet me in Shuttlebay 2."

**Babylon 5**  
They took a shuttle to the station and were soon following Garibaldi through the station to meet his own security forces. Zack looked surprised to see five armed Starfleeters following Michael. "Did you get everybody, Zack?"

"Yeah, everybody you asked for is here. Now what is this about, Chief?"

Now Iceren turned to look surprised at Michael. "You didn't tell him?"

"When we declared our independence, some of the Nightwatch and other Clark supporters managed to go underground and we haven't been able to find them yet. I think you just stumbled on their hideout and some of them were once in my security force, so they might be listening in on our commchannels. I am not letting those snakes escape again, so we move now."

Now Zack cut in, curious to find out what they found. "Your telling me they found them?"

"Yes, apparently they have been hiding Grey 17."

"You mean hiding out in Grey 17."

"No Zack. When I say that they have been hiding Grey 17 I meant that they have literally done a disappearing act with an entire level of the station. You stay here and keep an eye on things while I take care of the matter."

"Sure, Chief." As they moved off, Zack shook his head. 'A disappearing level, there was always something happening here. First Sinclair comes back and now…Oh shit, he completely forgot to tell the Chief about it. But it didn't matter, he would already know and it was not like Sinclair would leave without visiting Garibaldi.'

TBC


	19. Vague Answers

Author's notes: Instead of answering your reviews myself, I have decided to let someone else do it for me. And I have chosen Kosh! If you want him to answer your reviews in the future say so and I will see what I can do. But I am going to need a lot of reviews or I will do it myself. Do you have any idea how expensive a Vorlon Ambassador is? But for now, the reviews! 

X-over: The bar fight has already started, it is too late for the customer to vote. (Translation: no bar fight in the planning but who knows what the future might bring?)

Agent-G: They are alone. We should let them get together. (Translation: Although I won't be putting in a lot of romance, I thought Zack was a lot better then Byron. Not to mention that it fits with my theme of the changes that the Federation ships bring.)

Albert-G: Length is a three-edged sword. (Translation: I try, but I wanted to break the chapter of at that point. Not to mention the fact that I was still debating with myself whether to post this chapter or what is now chapter 20 first. This chapter however is longer as you will notice.)

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my betareader, Urgo the Observer. The best betareader a writer can have.

**Vague answers**

'Mystery is not profoundness'  
-Charles Caleb Colton

**USS Odyssey  
**When Garibaldi and Iceren had left, Captain Walker turned to his computer and contacted Babylon 5. None of the others had thought about it but perhaps the Vorlons had an idea as to whom those ships belonged to. But he didn't get Kosh on the screen; instead a woman with red hair answered the call. "I don't believe I had the pleasure of meeting you before."

"I am Lyta Alexander, Ambassador Kosh's assistant. And you are the Federation Captain Walker, the one that single-handedly took on an entire Shadow fleet and defeated them. What do you want from the ambassador?"

"It wasn't a fleet, just four battlecrabs and I lost a member of my crew during that engagement. I would like to speak with Ambassador Kosh personally to discuss a few things that have come up recently as well as finishing an earlier discussion we had."

"I am sorry, but Ambassador Kosh is…" Apparently some one spoke to her of screen and she turned her head to listen. A look of wonder crossed her face and then she turned again to look at him, "Ambassador Kosh will see you now in his quarters, don't forget to bring a oxygen mask with you."

"I won't, Walker out."

It wasn't long until they reached the station and he boarded the same shuttle as the security team, they were curious about the oxygen mask he was carrying but didn't ask about it. Garibaldi was also curious but guessed that he was going to see Kosh, hopefully Walker would be prepared to talk about that meeting later.

VVVVVV

He was standing outside his quarters, securing the oxygen mask. He also had a PADD with him, containing images of the unidentified fleet. Finally, he entered the room straightening his uniform. A mist covered the floor, an indication that an unhealthy atmosphere now surrounded him. He thought that it was rather strange for Kosh to insist on a hostile environment but still wear his suit. Next to Kosh stood his assistant, also wearing an oxygen mask.

"Greetings ambassador, Ms. Alexander. You might be aware of certain events that happened just a few hours ago involving time travel?" Kosh just narrowed his iris, not saying a word. "Well, we received a distress call from Babylon 5. Only it will be sent eight days from now." That got a reaction from Lyta but Kosh remained silent. "The message included footage of the attacker which we cannot identify and I was wondering if you could?"

"Show me."

He held up the PADD and Kosh seemed to study the image. Then he uttered a word.

"Pebbles."

"And do these pebbles have a name or is that their actual name?"

Kosh now slightly turned his helmeted head to regard Walker. "Yes."

He was doing this on purpose, just to annoy him. "And do you know their name?"

"Of course."

"Will you tell me what that name is?"

Now Kosh seemed to be thinking about it. "Yes."

When Kosh didn't say anything more, Walker lost his patience. "Well, then tell me their name"

"They are servants of the Shadows, they call themselves the Drakh."

"And that is all you know about them? No information about how powerful their ships are or the size of their fleet?" Captain Walker was getting annoyed again, that he liked being mysterious was his business but he should drop the act when lives were at stake.

"You have broken the circle."

And again he was being cryptic, answers only came kicking and screaming out of this ambassador. Even the suit seemed to be having that purpose. "What circle?"

"This circle."

Captain Walker now had a hunch about what kind of circle he was talking about but he wasn't certain. "I don't think history repeats itself, Ambassador. Certainly mistakes have the tendency to repeat themselves but there are always differences and people do sometimes learn from them. I take it that is why you told me to leave on my own ship?"

"Perhaps."

"Perhaps what? Was that the reason you told me to leave or are you doubting that history isn't a circle?"

"Yes."

This wasn't going anywhere, time to move to the next item he wanted to talk about. "You don't seem to like the Shadows and you are certainly the most powerful in the region. But the Shadows haven't attacked you and you haven't done anything to stop them…"

Now that seemed to provoke a response. "You do not understand."

"No, I don't. So why don't you explain to me why you are staying out of their way. I can understand it from the Gaim and others. They don't have the technology or numbers to stand up against them, but you do."

"It is the way of things."

"Aha, so you don't fight each other. But they seem to be fighting with the others. But for what, they don't seem to be interested in gaining anything. They just attack and then leave again. So what exactly have you done to counter that and then it hit me." Kosh lifted his 'head' at that and focussed on Walker. "When our doctors compared the DNA of the humans in our crew with those from around here, they found something very interesting."

"Apparently there is a slight genetic difference and we guessed that it was the reason that humans here had telepaths. But then we noticed two odd things. First we found this genetic difference in other sentient species as well and they seemed to be rather out of place. As if they had been introduced by artificial means. We couldn't figure out who had done it or why until I saw who the Shadows had attacked and who not."

Walker continued on, he barely noticed that Lyta was looking shocked and her eyes kept darting from him to Kosh. "We already knew that Shadow vessels were vulnerable to telepaths and now we know why every race has them. To fight against the Shadows on your behalf. Which just leaves the question, why?"

Kosh didn't move for a second and then he simply turned around. Lyta took that as a cue that the captain was no longer welcome and she approached him. "I believe you better go, the Ambassador will not continue this conversation I'm afraid." Walker just nodded and left, followed by Lyta.

VVVVVV

They knew! Not everything, not yet anyway but they had learned far too much in a very short time. The mystery of their origin had just gotten greater and more urgently needing a solution. Already they were passing their knowledge to the others; accelerating their development beyond the pace the Vorlons had deemed appropriate.

But the others were only interested in the Shadows, they would not diverge enough resources to deal with this threat. Instead they were racing headlong into the fight, convinced that now was the time to strike. So he would have to do it on his own and he had absolutely no idea how to handle it. This was all not supposed to happen and he was frightened of the future. Afraid of the darkness and uncertainty that now was the future.

VVVVV

Lyta had followed Walker through the airlock, she had some questions for him and after what she heard in there she had even more. But it was Walker that started a conversation with her. "Are you the same Lyta Alexander that ventured into Vorlon space and came back alive?"

"Yes, I am. But how did you know about that?"

"After my first talk with the ambassador I wanted to know a little bit more about Vorlons but there is surprisingly little about them. Mostly legends and unconfirmed rumors. But your name came up as one of only two people that entered Vorlon space and didn't vanish. I am hoping you could shed some light on them, separate fact from fiction. I won't be asking about state secrets or how he looks under that suit of his."

"I do have a few questions of my own, I heard that you have telepaths serving on board your ship. I also heard that your government consists entirely of telepaths." He seemed to find that last rumor to be very funny. "So that isn't true?"

"No, it isn't. Tell you what, I will answer your questions and you could answer mine."

"Deal, but not while standing here in the airlock. The ambassador wouldn't appreciate it and I am thirsty."

He gestured with his hand. "Lead the way."

A few minutes later they were both sitting in a bar in the Zocalo, after getting some drinks they continued their conversation. "Well, you already answered one of my questions so it's only fair that you start."

"Okay, now what to ask first?" He thought it over for a few seconds and then posed his question. "How old are the Vorlons? As far as I can tell, they were always here."

"The Vorlons are the oldest race in this part of space, apart from the Shadows that is. But even I don't know how old exactly, age seems to be a touchy subject for them. My turn, how does some one as young as you get to be Captain of a starship?"

Walker got a sad look on his face, but still answered. "A few years back we had a war, it lasted two years and we lost a lot of good people. When the war began I was just a lieutenant working hard and hoping to become captain of a science ship in five or ten years. In the final months I had become first officer of a Galaxy and even took command when we lost our captain. Starfleet was short handed and since I performed well enough they decided to give me a battlefield promotion to captain. That was three years ago."

"War is a horrible thing."

"Yes, but sometimes unavoidable. So, my turn again. This question is more to satisfy those mad dogs of my Exobiology department. They have been drooling over Kosh's ship and barking at me to get a good scan of it ever since they found out it was organic. From what I heard, the ship is not only organic but also alive and sentient. Is that true?"

"How could a ship not be alive if it was organic?"

"Well, a ship can be made out of organic parts that are alive but the ship itself is not a living organism. Merely a bunch of living parts that don't interact very much."

"Well, yes the ship is alive and intelligent. I don't know if it really is sentient, you would have to ask Kosh that. Now I want to know what kind of regulations you have for controlling telepathy?"

"Control? Oh, you are wondering whether we have something akin to your Psicorps. Well, telepathy works a bit differently from where we come. There, a race is either telepathic as a whole or not. Unlike here where every race seems to produce a small percentage of telepaths. As such there aren't any laws or organizations to control telepathy because that would boil down to being racist. Something we have left behind a very long time ago. If you want to know more, you will have to talk to some one that knows a little bit more about the subject."

"I will, but you ask your question first. You can ask two, since I did that as well."

VVVVVV

Zack was in an elevator going down from the Zocallo. He had just come off duty, after hearing how everything went with the Chief. It sounded very hectic and full of surprises. And the Chief didn't like those kinds of surprises. So he decided he would have a drink and then go to sleep.

He had seen that Federation Captain there saying his good-byes to Lyta and he had decided to pick that time to say hello to the two. Some how, he ended up having a few drinks with her and it was very…nice. He was hoping they could get together again, maybe even a date. He definitely had one drink too many, but friends would be nice.


	20. Grey 17 is found, part II

Author's notes: Of course I am happy with every review I get, but I think a lot more people are reading this story without posting a review. Please post one this time, it doesn't have to be much more then 'great chapter' or something like that. Or you could list the mistakes made, but please post a review. It's the reviews that keep me writing. 

Worker72: I have never known Kosh to lie, so he is speaking a truth. I am certainly not playing the drinking angle, but Zack seemed to be rather insecure around Lyta and I was trying to portray that. I was also trying to make people curious about what had happened in Grey 17 but nobody seems to have noticed that it was part I. And below these notes, you can read part II!

X-Over: Always and you are welcome.

Zarathos1: Trying to write from Kosh his perspective is difficult. Thanks to the mysterious persona he uses we only got glimpses of how he thought. I don't think he will be using an inquisitor, not subtle enough. Not to mention that Kosh knows that he doesn't know what the Feds are capable of so he treads lightly.

Jerry Unipeg: Thanks. I hope you will enjoy this chapter too.

**WARNING: This chapter contains some graphic scenes of violence. **

**Grey 17 is found, part II**

'Every man of action has a strong dose of egoism, pride, hardness, and cunning. But all those things will be regarded as high qualities if he can make them the means to achieve great ends.'

- Charles de Gaulle

**Babylon 5**  
They soon arrived at Grey 16 and had managed to avoid the busier parts of the station, but the armed Starfleet security team had still drawn quite a few surprised looks. It took fifteen minutes before they managed to find a hatch to the level below and it was welded shut. "It will take hours to get through that and the noise is sure to give us away." Then Michael had an idea. "Could you use your phasers to punch a hole through here large enough for us to enter?"

"We can. Koss, Thrann make us a point of entry."

The Vulcan and Andorian pulled out their phasers after putting their rifles away. They took aim and fired their weapons simultaneously at the hatch. Before the eyes of the amazed station security personnel the hatch simply dissolved, not leaving a trace. Garibaldi too had looked on in amazement but didn't let it show and quickly went through the opening. This pulled the others out of their reverie and they followed him, as did the Starfleet team.

VVVVVV

Hank Stevens cursed his own stupidity again. He had joined Nightwatch because he could use the money and he had escaped Garibaldi because he thought that Earthforce would have taken back the station in days. That was months ago and the only good thing that had happened was that he found the others. There were some previous occupants but they were quickly dealt with and now they had an entire level of the station to themselves.

Unfortunately, that was the only thing that went right. The Zarg that was running around was only one of the problems they were facing. They had already lost 4 men to the monster and he just knew it was waiting for another opportunity to snatch an unsuspecting human. Not to mention the fact that even in Brown sector they now had access to food, medicine and clothing while here they had to make do with rations and whatever they could steal. He never should have joined Nightwatch.

VVVVVV

When they reached the hallways of Grey 17 they found that it was in disrepair. The targeting sensors worked only intermittently and were limited to a range of 15 meters while the tricorders weren't much help either. They would have to use their own senses to look out for trouble and to find out what was going on here. The Federation team had taken point and their sensors were producing static again when suddenly it cleared up, showing two humanoid lifeforms 4 meters ahead in the right corridor.

Iceren moved back to Garibaldi and quickly whispered: "Two humans in the next corridor on the left, coming this way." Michael didn't say anything but just motioned for them to move on while they waited. He would let them handle this.

Lieutenant Commander Iceren pointed at Thrann and Brink who quickly moved into position. Thrann waited next to the hallway that the two men were walking in. They knew that the two readings were men because they could now hear them talking to each other.

When their sensors indicated they were only a meter away the two security officers quickly moved and stepped into view aiming their phaser rifles. The two men were completely taken by surprise but one reacted on instinct and tried to pull a PPG.

A phaser beam knocked him out before he could anything and the other one decided not to try anything. Brink motioned with his phaser rifle to follow him while Thrann picked up their unconscious prisoner. The latter was handed over to one of Garibaldi's men while Michael himself turned his attention to the one that was still able to answer his questions. "I want some answers and you are going to give me them."

VVVVVV

Unfortunately for them, they had missed Stevens who had been trying to catch up with the others. But he wasn't feeling very lucky himself. Now he had to warn the others that they had been detected and he had to walk the corridors on his own, while a hungry Zarg was prowling those very same corridors. No, Hank didn't feel lucky at all. It could only get worse if Garibaldi was with the security team.

He decided to forgo stealth and simply ran to the others. Surprisingly, nothing happened to him and he had reached safety within minutes. But it took several more minutes before he had caught enough breath to warn them. The Nightwatch leader decided to ambush them and lined out the plan.

And so Stevens found himself moving towards the danger he had been running from half an hour ago. He just couldn't catch a break, but at least he had company so they might shoot them first. The plan was simple, since they knew Drake would have told those traitors everything he knew. So they knew the route the security force would be taking, they would simply trap them in a corridor and attack them from behind first. Then when they turned to respond the other group would attack. A simple and elegant plan that would buy them enough time to find a new hiding place.

Hank had been put in the second group and that was fine. The less chance anybody would shoot at him, the better. Both groups were barely in position when their target arrived. They waited until the group had passed them and then they quickly entered the corridor aiming their PPG's, ready to fire.

VVVVVV

That Drake was a weasel. It just took one look at Garibaldi to spill everything and they now knew where to find the others and how many there were. He had let three of his men escort the prisoners out and the rest were on their way again. They still moved stealthily just in case security was better then Drake had told them. Those Federation scanners weren't working again so they were blind again.

Suddenly he heard a lot of hurried footsteps followed by the distinctive zoom of a PPG ready to fire. A lot of PPG's and all of those sounds came from behind him. Before he could even turn, weapons were fired.

But it weren't PPG's, but the rifles of his own security team. He had taken the precaution of letting four of his men trail the group to guard them against precisely such a move. The Nightwatchers had been so concentrated on springing their own trap that they hadn't bothered to look behind them and now they were being fired upon from two sides.

VVVVVV

The other group had heard the weaponsfire and now sprang into action as well. Those Feds had turned around to see what was going on behind them and wouldn't know what hit them. They fired but were flabbergasted when they saw how their plasma bolts harmlessly dissipated of their shields. They were actually carrying portable shields! The Federation security team now turned around again and quickly began to return fire, it was over before they could even run away. Well, almost over. Because Hank Steven had once again managed to save his own skin, by staying back instead of leaping into the corridor like the others. Now he was running again, trying to find a way out of this.

VVVVV

Garibaldi couldn't believe it. It was over a lot faster then he had expected, they had everybody and nobody got killed. Well, not on his side anyway. Those Feds had made a mistake by not paying attention to their surroundings but those shields made it a moot point. "Thrann is treating the injured, but we did a quick count and we are missing one."

"What! Are you telling me we are going to have to comb this entire level for just one person?"

Iceren seemed unfazed by the comment. "It seems so, I will leave Nevares and Thrann here to guard the prisoners and treat anybody that is still injured."

"Fine by me. Lopez, Roberts, Koch and Lee, your with me. The rest, stay here and keep an eye on our guests." Michael now turned to Iceren again. "We know where they messed with the security grid, we will go there and repair it. Your sensors should work fine then and we can finally find our lost little sheep. Let's go."

VVVVV

He was running for the second time today and that was twice more then he was used to. It didn't take long before he was out of wind and couldn't take another step. He was still gasping for air when he heard a sound. Instinctively he raised his PPG, ready to fire on anything that moved.

But not fast enough, because the next thing he knew a claw sliced through arm right above the wrist. The pain was unbelievable and he was about to scream his lungs out when another claw sliced through his windpipe, making it impossible for him to make any sound whatsoever. He sank to his knees, forced by fear, blood loss and pain. Then he finally saw the creature that had attacked him as it grabbed him and hoisted him on its shoulder. Luckily he fainted.

VVVVV

She had heard the turmoil and had gone to investigate it. When she spotted one of the preys alone and moving away from the group she had pounced on the opportunity and followed it. She had waited until it was out of breath and then moved in for the kill.

She had no desire to eat this one, instead she hauled to the nest. Her young were waiting there, almost ready to leave the nest but not before a last meal. As they fed on the carcass she kept watch for anything that might threaten her offspring.

VVVVV

It wasn't long before they found the first trace of their quarry. Or perhaps remains was a better word. Something had cut of his hand, it was still clutching a PPG. One that hadn't even fired one shot which explained how he had gotten away in the first place. The Feds had wanted to go after him, but with the amount of blood that could be seen everywhere there was no hope he was still alive. So instead, they now hastened towards the security tap, he needed to know what the hell had attacked the Nightwatcher and how many there were.

Suddenly Koss motioned for everybody to stop. "Sir, my targeting sensor just detected al lifesign 15 meters ahead in the second right corridor. It was humanoid."

"Damn, where is it now?"

"I cannot tell, the interference has once again descended. But by the speed it was moving when the sensor could track it, it would be here in…"

At that moment the lifesign launched itself from its hiding place, before a warning could even be given. Koss reacted the fastest and fired at it, stopping it in mid-air. Brink and Iceren moved forward to see what had attacked them when it suddenly attacked again. It knocked Brink's phaser rifle to the side and lunged at Iceren but before it's arm could complete the arc it was hit by several phaser beams and PPR bolts. It was knocked back and this time it wouldn't get up, ever.

"What is that thing?" asked ensign Brink. It had chitinous armor covering a black hide. Bladelike claws extended from their upper digits and rows of sharp looking teeth filled its mouth. It was clearly bipedal and he was wondering if it might have been sentient.

Garibaldi answered his question. "That was a Zarg. It's one of the deadliest predators in the galaxy and it's homeworld is supposed to be quarantined but their eggs bag a good price on the black market so sometimes people go down there to collect some. But who would be stupid enough to let one of them run around like this?"

"Could there be anymore of these things?" Iceren wanted to know.

"I don't think so, they are very territorial and would fight each other over such a small territory as this. But I can't say for sure without knowing how this one got here. But why didn't your shield protect you?"

Iceren answered the question. "The generators lost most of their energy during the firefight, we deactivated them because if we hadn't they would shut down ten minutes ago."

"Okay, let's shut down that security grid before the universe reveals it's next surprise."

Unfortunately for Garibaldi, the universe had other plans as he found out when they entered the room that had been pointed out by Drake. The first thing he noticed were the remains of several humans strewn about the room, the next thing were the twelve hungry mini-Zarg that were all eyeing him.

VVVVVV

Garibaldi had only been gone two hours when he dragged himself back into the office. Zack was waiting there for him, he had already seen to it that the prisoners were securely locked up. "So Chief, how did it go?"

Michael eyed him for a moment before he responded. "How did it go? You want to know how it went? Well, let me tell you what happened on my little trip to Wonderland."

TBC


	21. Silence before the Storm

Author's notes: Thank you all, I haven't had this many reviews for one chapter in a long time. Of course I am hoping the number will continue to grow but I am humbled to see how many like my writing. When I started I half expected people to say that I should find another hobby. This chapter got revised after comments from Skeet and I want to thank him for taking the effort to do so and for giving me a sneak peak of chapter 34 of TWS.

Agent-G: I never rush a chapter, I write when I have an idea and I usually get the chapter done in two or three of those sessions. The reason for posting chapter 19 before part II of 18 was that 19 was originally meant to be a part of part II. But it got a lot bigger then I thought and I decided instead to try and create some suspension by letting you wait for what happened at Grey 17 and even throwing in a teaser. I hope you like this chapter more and won't think it's rushed.

theduke7975: Yes it will, in the next two chapters especially.

Worker72: I didn't think the Federation officers were loose lipped around Garibaldi. Could you give me an example of this? Lying by omission isn't really lying, but it isn't right either. Besides, appearing as angelic beings is a real lie.

X-over: Haven't yet figured out how the Great Machine is going to fit into this story. If you got suggestions, e-mail them to me.

And I would like to thank Gyre, Jerry Unipeg, Mikyb, Bolo, Lord Matrix, Dev-Em, the Sithspawn, Drake Crimson and WBH21C for their positive reviews.

** Silence Before the Storm**

'The best thinking has been done in solitude. The worst has been done in turmoil.'  
-Thomas Alva Edison

**Babylon 5, Ambassador Mollari's quarters  
**"I do not like this, Vir." Londo was pacing in his quarters while Vir just stood there. "I have not heard from the homeworld in weeks and now these Federationists seem to be even busier than usual. And to make matters worse, there is a Narn heavy cruiser here!" He could understand the silence from Centauri Prime. He had heard what had happened to Refa. He must have lost favor with the Royal Court but why was he still here then? Why wasn't he replaced?

"Well, there are rumors that they are expecting an attack."

"Yes, yes. I have heard these rumors as well. But from whom? The Shadows haven't made a move in a month and we wouldn't attack Babylon 5. Far too messy. No, there is something else going on and we have to find out soon before we find it out with the rest of the station." Londo turned around to face his aide. "What are you standing around here? Go and find out what has gotten everybody so agitated."

Mollari was now alone with his thoughts, but not everything was bad. He still had Adira, even though at the same time he wished she were somewhere safer then here. But the attempted murder had proven to him that she wouldn't be safer anywhere else and she wouldn't have left simply because he asked her. So she remained here on the station. He wondered what was happening on the homeworld right now.

**Centauri Prime, Imperial Palace**  
He was looking out over the city, considering what more he could do to further his master's goals. When he had arrived at Centauri Prime, he was surprised to learn of the fate of Refa. Morden began to smile. Luckily the Emperor had a very open mind and was quite interested in what his 'associates' could do for him, for a small price.

Although even he couldn't see why his masters would want the Centauri to attack them, still he passed along the 'suggestion'. It had helped that the new Emperor was stark raving mad and that he had terrorized his people into following him into hell. That and his intelligence had convinced Cartagia that something had to be done and with Cartagia that had to be something bloody. His smile now grew into something very unpleasant.

Right now, somewhere in hyperspace, a Centauri fleet was almost ready to strike. At a predetermined moment that his masters had suggested, which meant that they were planning something else of which he had heard nothing. That caused a frown. He still had a healthy sense of self-preservation and what he didn't know could kill him quite easily.

**Earth, EarthDome**  
President Clark was listening to General Lefcourt's briefing about the current state of the EA defenses and it was not encouraging. The Hyperions were finally ready and would be distributed among the various blockading fleets. Lefcourt had wanted them combined into one taskforce but he had overruled him.There was no way to get them into position in time when the Federation would attack and Clark just knew they would attack. The new Omegas weren't ready yet and wouldn't be for at least another month, despite his own incentives to make them work faster.  
The news from the Warlock project was even less encouraging. The project leader was still estimating that it would take a year before even one of those ships was ready and he had heard the same thing 6 months ago.

Right now, those damned Feds were more concerned with turning Babylon 5 into a fortress, one that he wouldn't dare attack with his current means. On top of that, the blockade of the station wasn't working and it seemed to actually fare better now then when it was still under EarthGov.

That was the last they heard from their sources on the station before station security found them too. It seemed that everything simply went Sheridan's way without him even having to lift a finger. The Shadows hadn't been seen in weeks and Morden hadn't returned any of his calls. The universe seemed to be holding its breath and he wasn't in the loop for what.

**Babylon 5, War room**  
They were all assembled. The war council was already informed about what the probes had discovered but the captains of the ships hadn't. Every race that joined the alliance had sent ships to protect Babylon 5 and they would now hear what they would face. The last to enter was the one that knew how long and what exactly was coming, Captain Santowitz.

"Good morning. As you may know, for the past three days we have been very busy. The reason for all this hustle was intelligence that the Shadows would possibly make a move against this station in the near future. Honestly, we were wondering why they didn't try anything sooner, we certainly interfered with their plans on several occasions. To determine whether they would actually attack, we launched several probes into hyperspace towards the direction of Z'ha'dum. Six hours ago one of the probes found this, outside the lanes." A holographic image appeared above the table showing everybody a fleet of ships in hyperspace. Another gift from the Federation.

"Two more of these fleets have been discovered since then, all on a course leading straight to Babylon 5. They will arrive here in two hours if they keep their current speed. The large ship in the center of the fleet is fifty-two kilometers long." This caused a stir among the gathered allies, a ship longer then the station they were defending. Boris waited until it died down before continuing with his briefing. "The two smaller types you can see are three thousand and two hundred meters long respectively. In total one of these fleets contains thirty large ones and a hundred smaller ships."

"Our probes managed to get detailed scans of the smallest type, but not the large ones." The image now turned into a cross-section of one of the small ships. "This type we have dubbed a raider and it seems to be workhorse of the enemy. It has one directed-energy weapon, located in the nose. Its armour is a crystalline compound that would make it difficult for fighter weaponry to penetrate it. Its propulsion system is based on gravitics and it has a crew compliment of twenty-five."

"These 'Raiders' don't have a jumpengine and they will most likely rely on the cruisers or those mammoths to open jumppoints for them. Are there any questions so far?"

The Narn captain was the first to voice the question they all had. "How do you expect to win against such odds? We are vastly outnumbered. We should leave instead of wasting our lives here. My ship is one of the last free Narn ships and I will not waste it in a fight that does not bring my homeworld's freedom closer."

Santowitz just looked at Sheridan, as this was a question only he could answer. Sheridan stood up and looked around the room before answering. "There are a quarter of a million people on this station. Human, Minbari, Narn, Gaim, Vree, Drazi, Brakiri and dozens of other races are all counting on you to protect them. We can't get them out in time so either we make a stand here or sacrifice them to an enemy we all swore to oppose. I for one am going to fulfill my promise, to fight them and to win."

He now pointed at the recording of the Drakh fleet. "The reason they are coming is because their masters got beaten by the Federation. The reason why the Shadows themselves aren't coming is because they know we can beat them and they are afraid. I am not saying this is going to be easy. They do have the numbers on their side. But the Shadows know that we can win this and so they send their lackeys. We have to start winning this war somewhere and I say we start here, who is with me?"

For a moment everybody was silent, then Santowitz spoke up. "We weren't planning on going anywhere, so you can count on us." Then his half smile turned into a full grin. "Besides, if we left we couldn't spring the few surprises we made for the Drakh." The others now spoke up too, affirming they would make their stand at Babylon 5. "I mentioned surprises and it would be my pleasure to inform you about what we have been doing over the past three days, but this is Captain Sheridan's show."

Santowitz took a seat and Sheridan stood up to continue the briefing. "Our first advantage is that we will know when and from where they will come thanks to the Federation. They have laid a network of sensors in hyperspace that will give us an advanced warning. We will position our ships here to protect Babylon 5. They have assured me that DSB can handle its own defense and will not need any help. Both the _Salvador _and the _Odyssey_ will assist in the protection of our station alongside all of their fighters and a number of shuttles."

Now Lenann spoke up. "You are going to put shuttles up against warships? They will be blown away at our first contact with the enemy."

"I can assure you, Captain Lenann, that our runabouts and shuttles are more then capable of handling themselves. They have been up against warships far more impressive then a Drakh raider and won, it has the same offensive and defensive systems as a starship. The only difference is size, they will be more then adequate."

Sheridan could understand Lenann's skepticism. He had thought the same thing until he learned what exactly was expected of a Federation shuttle. "I have had a look at their specifications, they are the best evidence I have seen that size doesn't matter. Now as I was saying the fleet will concentrate on protecting Babylon 5. Fighters and medium warships like those of the Drazi and the Vree will concentrate on the raiders while our heavy hitters will try to keep the cruisers away from the station. The two Federation starships will help where they can and they will take on the big motherships."

"But the Drakh will first have to walk the gauntlet before they can start worrying about our ships. Yesterday, eight defense platforms were deployed where it was most likely the Drakh would enter normal space. The reason they haven't appeared on your scanners is because they are cloaked and so the Drakh won't know they are there. They can't afford to ignore them so when they concentrate on those platforms, we move in and attack. Any questions?"

Again, Captain Lenann was the one to voice the first doubts. "You are putting a lot of faith in these Federation contraptions, how do we know they will deliver what they have promised?"

Since this was a question about the Federation's part of the plan, Captain Santowitz took the question. "For one, they are armed with the same weapons as the ones on my own _Salvador_. And the same tactic worked on us during our war with the Dominion, we almost lost that battle because of the platforms." Everybody was intently watching him now, maybe he should have kept it at 'it worked against us' but that was too late now. And nobody here knew where the Chin'toka system was anyway.

"You want the whole story, fine. We had been fighting the Dominion and their allies, the Cardassians, for over a year. We had managed to get them into a stand-off but a Jem'Hadar soldier is ready to fight in days and they were building their ships a lot faster then we were so we knew we had to beat them fast. We launched an invasion into the Chin'toka system because Intelligence had assessed the system as having minimal defenses although they were busy improving them."

"At first it looked like Intelligence had finally gotten it right once, but I should have known better then that. The defense platforms were inactive when we began to fire on it, but as our fleet moved in, they suddenly went online and started blowing up starships. We would have been slaughtered if the defenses hadn't been a Cardie design. They have great ideas and they actually manage to make them a reality, but they also all have one weakness that usually proves fatal."

"The entire defense network got its power from one central location which was heavily shielded. But Captain Sisko managed to fool the grid into thinking it was a Federation ship and it turned on itself. After that it was easy to take out the now powerless platforms. And don't worry, ours do have their own power systems so this can't happen to them."

**USS _Odyssey_, Two hours later**  
Santowitz had told him how the meeting had gone and it sounded like this alliance still needed some work. But fighting side by side should help with that, although it meant revealing more of their technology. They hadn't told them everything they had planned to throw at the Drakh, partly because he didn't know if it would be needed or work, partly because he didn't think everybody would be happy with using such a deception.

And comparing their own makeshift defense platforms with the Cardassian ODP was stretching the truth a little. They only had a few platforms and they only managed to build them this quickly by stripping a few type 8 shuttles of their weapons systems, shield generators and power systems. Adding a pair of spare torpedo launchers they had in storage and a phase cloak resulted in something that wouldn't even stop the Bajoran militia, but that's not what they were up against. They only had to delay a fleet of unshielded ships that barely managed three-quarters impulse.

Walker was pulled out of his contemplations by his second in command. "Sir, the sensors just picked up the Drakh fleets. ETA 2 minutes, two of the fleets will be heading to DSB and one to us if they keep their present course. Babylon 5 has been informed and they have passed along the information to the other ships."

"Thank you, Mr. Thalev. All hands, this is the captain. In front of us, there is a large enemy fleet coming our way. Behind us, a station harboring 250.000 people and is our home away from home. Our allies and us are all that stands between them and I for one won't let these people die. I expect you to do your best so that we still have a station to go back to when this is over. That will be all."

The _Odyssey_ now went to red alert and in seconds the crew could here the thuds that signaled the deployment of the armour. Next to her, the _Salvador_ did the same.

**Sharlin-class War cruiser _Kinsha_**  
Shai Alyt Lenann was watching one of the Federation runabouts fly by. It looked ridiculously fragile with those big engines sticking out and a large window, but it wasn't relying on armour for defense. But these small things would be pitted against real warships and expected to win, they were really too arrogant for their own good. Luckily for them, the Minbari were here to ensure they would win. These Drakh were not Shadows so even with numerical superiority, they couldn't fight what they couldn't hit.

Then his second-in-command called for his attention. "Shai Alyt, the Humans report that the enemy will arrive in 2 standard minutes. Only one of the fleets is moving against Babylon 5, it appears they will be concentrating their attack on the Federation station." Sensors that could pick up ships in hyperspace and early enough to ensure you could prepare for them. This was another technology the Minbari didn't have but would be very helpful in this war.

"Have they yet asked for assistance of the fleet?"

"No, Shai Alyt. They maintain that their defenses are adequate."

"Arrogant. Very well, that station is not our concern anyway. If nothing else, it will delay those fleets so that we can deal with this one first. We will show…" Out of curiosity he had one of the monitors trained on the _Odyssey_ and he was looking at it when the ship prepared itself for battle. He saw blue lights on the hull followed by gray armour appearing that covered the ship in seconds. "What is that?"

"I can't tell, Shai Alyt. Scans are being distorted by their shields and they can't penetrate the armour."

Now it looked more like a warship.

**Drakh mother-ship _Glarh_**  
The battle was almost at hand, or better said his part of the battle was. His masters had told them everything they had learned about these Federation ships and he would be careful. Not that it mattered, they were vastly outnumbered and would have to divide their forces between the two stations. His attack would begin first. They would jump in outside of weapons range and try to draw as many ships to the defense of Babylon 5 as possible.

When the enemy had scrambled to protect that station, the main attack on the unsuspecting Federation station could commence. They would never know what hit them and then they could concentrate on destroying the ships. If those had survived his attack of course, but he had been warned not to underestimate them.

In his own tongue he gave the order. "Begin."

TBC


	22. The battle of Mesopotamia, Part I

Author's notes: I am glad to get such positive reviews again. I am finally content enough with these chapters to post them. As you have noticed this is another two-parter and this time, you can read how it ends right away. 

rankokun alpha: The Zarglings got killed, how and what they did with was left of them I leave to your imagination.

Agent-G: Shai Alyt is the title Minbari captains get. I take it you mean Lenann and he could indeed change his mind. The Feds will be in the B5 universe for a while but they won't give up on getting home. They are only now accepting that it might take a long time. As for romance, I try to drop a hint here and there but I am not sure if I can portray it realistically. Still, I might try to do something with that in an upcoming chapter.

The Prometheus won't show up in this story. Such a state of the art ship can't be made in a short while by a small group of people fighting a war. But I also thought the splitting off into three sections may have looked cool, it was also ridiculous. Besides being very complicated to make such a ship, the three seperate parts are far too vulnerable. If even one part gets destroyed the other two can't combine anymore to form the Prometheus.

Evita: The use of pronouns in that way is intentional sometimes, but not always. I will keep an eye on it.

Jumster: I never even heard of the Valkyrie until you brought it up so the answer has to be no, it won't appear in this story.

And I would like to thank X-Over, Gyre, Ta'al, Jerry Unipeg, andrewjameswilliams and jezz for their positive reviews.

** The battle of Mesopotamia, Part I**

'You can't say civilization don't advance... in every war they kill you in a new way.'  
-Will Rogers

**Babylon 5, CnC**  
"Sir, the _Odyssey_ just … changed."

"Changed, you will have to be a little more precise then that Lieutenant Corwin. Show me." And now Sheridan could see it, the ship was now encased in grey armour and even the nacelles were protected by it. Apparently they hadn't taken the Earthforce attack seriously when they came to the defense of his station. "Have their other craft undergone the same change?"

"Only the _Salvador_, the rest still looks the same. Sir, the Drakh are here. I am detecting fourteen, correction thirty jumppoints opening up, distance 9.000 kilometers. Their mother-ship didn't jump with them, she is remaining in hyperspace."

To Sheridan that didn't make any sense. Why would they throw everything in except for their biggest gun. If they were planning on using it later in the battle they should have left an escort with them. And they jumped in too far from the station. It would take them a minute to get into weapons range and the platforms had been placed with the assumption the Drakh would enter normal space within weaponsrange. He would have to wait with springing the trap until they had passed them now. "What about the two other fleets?"

"They are holding position close to DSB but they haven't jumped yet."

Could it be that his station wasn't the real target? Were they trying to draw as many ships as they could from the Federation station and then pounce on it while we were still trying to defeat this fleet? That could only work if they hadn't been detected so they didn't know about our new hyperspace sensors. Although by now, whoever was commanding that Drakh fleet could easily see that his arrival wasn't much of a surprise.

**Drakh Cruiser _Ateala_**  
A prepared fleet had greeted them after their jump to normal space. It was unexpected but a quick look at the scanner revealed that they had left the Federation station defenseless so counselor Arann couldn't care less whether they had been spotted. They obviously hadn't spotted the others and they could still carry out their masters' orders. He also saw that a handful of boxy looking shuttles were interspersed among the opposing fleet. Apparently the Federationists were so desperate that they had launched their shuttles, although his scanners also revealed that they had shields.

As the seconds passed Arann got worried. They had to know he was here but instead of advancing towards him, the fleet just stayed put. It didn't make sense, they should have tried to keep him as far away of the station as possible. Instead they just waited as his own fleet got within weaponsrange to destroy the vulnerable station. Could it be, they were afraid of us?

**Babylon 5, CnC**  
Despite the obvious fact that their arrival had been expected the Drakh hadn't slowed down. In a few seconds they would be right between the platforms and the fleet. "Corwin, send the signal. We attack now." It took moment for the fleet to act and then they moved. Simultaneously the platforms decloaked behind the Drakh fleet and their launchers popped out ready to fire.

Unfortunately, platform 5 malfunctioned and one launcher got stuck. Normally the torpedo wouldn't be fired then, but in their haste they had removed this safety measure. The torpedo launched and detonated within the platform, the resulting explosion destroyed platform 5 and took out platforms 4 and 6 before they could launch all of their torpedoes. The other platforms however succeeded in launching all of their torpedoes and multiple multi-megaton explosions engulfed that area of space where the Drakh fleet was.

**Sharlin-class War Cruiser _Kinsha_**  
They had to wait until they were in the right position before they could advance and take care of these Drakh but finally the Drakh were there. After learning that the Federation ships had placed several cloaked structures near the station he had ordered scans of the area. But they only appeared on their scans now as they began to fire upon the enemy. He also saw how one of the platforms just blew up, taking two others with him. 'So much for Federation engineering', Lenann thought, 'although the explosion was impressive.'

Then the missiles detonated within the Drakh fleet engulfing the ships in destruction. Even Lenann could see that it had caused them significant losses. "What was the yield?"

His sensor operator reported immediately, "Combined yield of those thirty-nine missiles was approximately 2.3 gigatons. The enemy has lost fifty-two small ships and fourteen large ones, we are now within weapons range."

"Open fire."

**Drakh Cruiser _Ateala_**  
Arann was getting back up after being violently tossed against the bulkhead. Looking around he could see that the others also had an encounter with the ship's structure. "What happened?"

One of his men had already returned to his post and gave the report. "Eight satellites appeared behind us and fired missiles at us. They seem to be of Federation design. We only have forty-eight Raiders and sixteen Cruisers left. One of the satellites malfunctioned and blew up. Only five of them are still active."

"Send twelve Raiders to take care of the remaining satellites, the rest will continue their attack on the fleet. And stay clear of Babylon 5, it is not to be attacked."

VVVVVV

In space, the remaining Raiders clashed with metallic gray Human, sky-blue Minbari, green striped Narn and blue-hued Federation fighters. They were preceded by Federation runabouts that took the first hits. But moments later the Drakh Raiders were firing on the fighters as well and many of them didn't have enough protection to survive a hit. Worse, Drakh scanners proved to be good enough to burn through the stealth field of Minbari fighters as they blew up alongside Starfuries and Drazi Sunhawks.

Drakh armour in turn proved to be completely useless against Federation phasers and the clash now turned into chaos. The larger warships on both sides now joined in and began slugging it out with each other and with the smaller craft of their opponents.

Lt. Schiappi was piloting one of the new Thunderbolts that had been improved with Federation technology. It had already proved its value twice as Drakh weapons fire that had gutted Minbari fighters just knocked him off course. But his computer now warned him that his new armour wouldn't survive another hit, which was hard to avoid in such a chaotic situation. He was about to fire on a Raider when another one opened fire on him and his wingman. Neither had spotted him and Lt. Schiappi left the universe in a ball of fire before four Narn fighters could take care of the Raider.

The defense platforms had switched to their phaser arrays after they had exhausted their supply of torpedoes. The first group of Raiders proved to be insufficient to destroy all of the platforms and now the remaining three began firing upon the Drakh ships still engaged with the Allied fleet. This forced the Drakh to send more ships to take care of the threat in their backs. Two Cruisers turned back and began advancing on the platforms. These returned fire taking one of the Cruisers with them before they succumbed to the firepower of the Drakh.

The _Odyssey_ meanwhile found itself under special attention by the enemy. At three separate occasions a Drakh Raider that was damaged actually resorted to ramming the ship. The Federation ship could only use its phasers to neutralize this threat because firing a torpedo would have killed as many of their allies as their enemies. Luckily, when a Cruiser tried to ram them as well it had proven to be too slow and the _Odyssey_ had simply evaded her before destroying the ship.

VVVVVV

Counselor Arann wasn't pleased with their progress so far. They had managed to tie up the enemy's fleet and they had destroyed those Federation satellites that had cut his force in half. On the other hand, his fleet was loosing. Time for the second part of the plan. "Signal the _Glarh_ that their entire fleet is engaged. Also ask them to send in the second wave now, inform them of our losses."

The bridge shuddered again as enemy fire from this or that race impacted with the ship. It wasn't a Federation weapon, that much he could tell. If it was, his ship would be in far worse shape then it already was. On his screen he just saw another Cruiser that did engage a Federation ship. It was the smaller one, it simply flew along the beam fired at the ship and in return fired some kind of energy pulses that caused explosions which exited the Cruiser on the other side.

**Deep Space Babylon  
**Commander Hett had monitoring the battle at Babylon 5 while keeping an eye on the two fleets that had come together near his station. They were clearly waiting for something and that something could be related to the fact that all three mother-ships had begun launching ships as soon as the attack had begun. The _Churchill _had been moved inside his station to protect her. That ship hadn't been combat ready yet and Captain Hiroshi knew that as well. But she insisted that she be kept in reserve in case things got desperate, in the meantime however she could watch the battle through a feed from his station.

Getting the _Churchill_ inside had proven to be somewhat problematic. The ship was big and they had to camouflage their project, but with some careful maneuvering they had managed to dock the massive ship. It couldn't be launched at a moment's notice though. That would take at least a minute but he doubted the Drakh could get through his defenses. This was quality engineering, not a rush job like those defense platforms.

"Commander, there is activity in hyperspace. Looks like they are about to make the jump to normal space and they are spreading themselves."

"That will make our torpedoes less effective, prepare to fire as soon as they jump. Use the phasers only on those that get through the initial barrage. Don't waste your torpedoes on taking out individual ships, only groups."

The Drakh were indeed preparing to jump to normal space. The two mother-ships had been increasing their fleet so that now there were three hundred Raiders and ninety Cruisers ready to attack. Forty-five jumppoints opened up around DSB each spat out a pair of Cruisers accompanied by six or seven Raiders, some already firing at the station. But the Federation station reacted just as quickly by firing photon torpedoes at them. Two dozen jumppoints collapsed on the helpless ships as the Cruisers that kept them open were engulfed in an exploding torpedo.

Some Raiders escaped that fate and continued their attack while some groups weren't even targeted by the station and made the transition from hyperspace unscathed. Commander Hett noticed that too. "It seems you have missed a few, ensign Schopper."

While she kept on firing, she answered her commanding officer. "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

The station rocked slightly as a burning Raider collided with the shields. "One sir an answer will do, just keep pouring it on and keep them away from the station."

"I'm doing my best, sir."

"That's good enough for me and it looks like it's too much for the Drakh." The hyperspace sensors had detected additional launches. Soon his station would face a second wave of those Drakh ships just like Babylon 5.

**Babylon 5, CnC**  
They had the enemy contained or more precisely the first wave. On his display he could clearly see that behemoth launch Raiders and Cruisers in preparation of a second wave. Sheridan thought he now knew what his counterpart on the other side had planned. Keep the fleet busy while their main fleet took out the Federation station. The Federationists would lose their base of operations and they wouldn't stand a chance against a combined attack of both Drakh fleets. But DSB had proven to be more resilient then they thought and it really looked like they didn't need help.

He had to pull back his starfuries after they had proven to be no match for a Raider. The modified Thunderbolts were performing far better and the losses among them were minimal, even lower then the Nials. He noticed that the Drakh fleet in hyperspace began to move closer to the battle and that the Drakh in normal space began to retreat. "Sheridan to fleet, the Drakh have a new fleet waiting in hyperspace and they are about to jump to normal space. Do not try to chase the retreating enemy ships, we will use this opportunity to regroup. This isn't over yet."

In response the _Odyssey_ sent a message to the fleet as well. "Everybody move away from the Drakh. We are going to use a high yield weapon to thin their ranks but we don't want loose anybody to friendly fire." Nobody waited for confirmation from Babylon control and backed away to the station.

**USS _Odyssey_**  
His ship was still in one piece despite the best attempts by the Drakh to destroy him. They seemed to pay special attention to him and the _Salvador_. They hadn't tried to ram any other ship so often and it showed. Shields were down to twenty-five percent and armour integrity was down as well. Some casualties and they had lost three fighters and a runabout.

"Everybody move away from the Drakh. We are going to use a high yield weapon to thin their ranks but we don't want loose anybody to friendly fire." Captain Walker then gave his orders. "Ensign Val, create some distance between us and the Drakh too. Commander Thalev, load our tricobalt torpedoes. Fire as soon as the Drakh send their reinforcements in." The _Odyssey_ didn't get far before a number of jumppoints opened up behind her. At the same time two glowing orbs left the aft launchers of the ship.

A tricobalt warhead had a higher yield then a standard photon torpedo but they also had a drawback. They were very ineffective against a shielded target making them useless in combat operations. Except here where shielded ships were almost unheard of. They detonated flanking what remained of the first wave of the Drakh attack and the explosion made light work of them.

What Walker had failed to anticipate however was that tricobalt detonations also had an effect on hyperspace and what happened next proved to be far more destructive then the original explosions.

TBC

Author's notes: I arrived to the figure of 2.3 gigatons by giving each torpedo a yield of 60 megatons. I first used the figure of 100 but I doubted if enough of the Drakh fleet would have survived to cause the Allied fleet problems. As to the Drakh fleet having a range smaller then 5.000 kilometers, in Babylon 5 the ranges are very small. In one episode for example, a Shadow fleet would be able to attack the White Star 20 minutes after it left hyperspace 5.000 kilometers from the ship.


	23. The battle of Mesopotamia, Part II

** The battle of Mesopotamia, Part II**

'In war, events of importance are the result of trivial causes'  
- Julius Caesar

**Sharlin-class War cruiser _Kinsha_**  
His ship was still able to fight although Drakh targeting sensors had proven to be better then he anticipated. The stealth field had to be adjusted constantly and they had managed to get a few shots in. His counterpart, the _Khisal_, had lost a drive fin when the burning wreck of a Drakh raider collided with it and the damage impeded her movements. His fighters had suffered heavy losses because their stealth generators weren't powerful enough to defeat Drakh sensors.

The rebel Earthforce destroyer was still here against his expectations. Its Federation armour had proven to be formidable and the same was true for the weaponry. It was still damaged but it had held out without the aid of a stealth field. It was worrying that such technology could fall into the hands of the Earth Alliance.

He now knew that these Drakh were not to be underestimated and so he too regrouped like the others. Those Starfleet shuttles were also better then he had thought, their shields keeping them safe as their own weapons gutted raiders. The Minbari hadn't tried to gain some of the Federation technology believing it to be inferior to their own. That viewpoint should perhaps be reconsidered.

He saw how the Federation ship fired two orbs at the Drakh fleet as the enemy's jumppoints were just forming. After which the _Odyssey_ quickly turned around and moved away to regroup as well. He had heard the warning of Captain Walker as he described them as having 'a high yield'. And he saw how the missiles quickly moved to flank the remnants of the Drakh's first wave on both sides and then detonated.

The twin explosions destroyed those ships as well as many that were still in transit to normal space but then something strange happened. The vortices that remained looked as if they were unstable and the ships within them seemed to be frozen in place. The color of the jumppoints had changed as well, from blue to green, rippling violently. "What is happening out there? What has happened to those jumppoints?"

The sensor operator hesitated before answering. "I do not know, Shai Alyt. I have never seen readings like these before." The vortexes changed color again, this time they became red, right before they all suddenly collapsed crushing the ships within. The ones furthest from the explosion collapsed first and as they collapsed they were dragged into the area between the two tricobalt explosions.

The reason for this now became visible, some kind of rift in space that was sucking in these jumppoints. Only the walls of it were visible and even now it was transparent. When there were no more jumppoints left, the rift began to fade away although he could see that it was closing. Confirmation that it was closing came moments later as a wave of red energy suddenly rippled outwards from where the rift was.

'Those Federationists really overdid it with this one or they had no idea how destructive that weapon of theirs would be.' But intentional or not, it looked like the fleet hadn't put enough distance between itself and the Drakh as the wave came right at them.

**Babylon 5, CnC  
**Corwin could see on his scanner how the wave came towards them. It seemed to grow weaker but scanning beyond it wasn't possible. First it engulfed the _Odyssey_, followed by the stragglers that had suffered damage to their propulsion system and then the fleet itself. Finally it reached the station but the only noticeable effect it had was a slight tremor of the station.

The captain was already on it. "Who did we lose?"

That was his cue. "Reports are coming in, no damage to the station and no losses among the fleet. Some were damaged and the fighters got tossed around but nothing serious. The _Odyssey _got hit harder then the rest, they lost their shields and impulse engines. They are dead in space, sir."

"And the Drakh?"

"Whatever it was, it also caused something similar in hyperspace. It knocked them around but they are already regrouping and launching new ships. At this rate, they will be back in a minute."

"Get the _Odyssey_ on the line."

"Done, sir."

**USS _Odyssey_**  
Iceren had already informed him about the state of the Drakh fleet when he got the hail from Captain Sheridan. His ship had sustained heavy damage from the hyperspace wave as his science officer had called it and he was almost out of tricks. "Greetings, captain. I take it you want an explanation about what just happened?"

"Yes, I don't think you expected this to happen."

"No, we didn't. Apparently the interactions between hyperspace and subspace are a little more complicated then we thought. When the warheads exploded they momentarily created a subspace tear that interacted with the jumppoints. It drew them in which destabilized the jumppoints. Suffice it to say, the torpedoes were far more effective then we thought. What is worse, the wave interacted with the shields. We lost those and impulse, the warp coils are depolarized and armour integrity is at twenty-three percent. We are moving on thrusters only at the moment."

"Every ship in the fleet has sustained damage, I doubt we can hold out against a fresh fleet of ships. Anything left in your bag of tricks?"

"Just one and I have no idea if it will work. Don't worry, it has nothing to do with explosions of any kind. We are just going to bluff. If it works, they will turn tail and run or at least be distracted. If it doesn't, they will still be distracted for a few seconds and lets hope a miracle arrives by that time. On the bright side, it looks like DSB is holding."

**Deep Space Babylon  
**The second wave Commander Hett had predicted did indeed come. They were still fighting of the first wave when the second one hit and again a barrage of torpedoes caught dozens of ships before they had entered normal space, but it wasn't enough.

Shields were down to a third and they were beginning to run out of torpedoes. "Ensign, plasma spread on my mark." He waited as more of the enemy got closer. "Now." A plasma spread was a weapon that used an omnidirectional burst of plasma to create an energetic wave that was nearly impossible to evade. It didn't have much of a range nor was it good against the strongly shielded warships most species used back home. But here that was less of a problem.

The wave dissipated quickly but damaged or destroyed a good part of the raiders who had gotten closer in an effort to evade the phaser banks. This left the cruisers and some of the raiders that had chosen to keep their distance and these kept on pounding the Federation base. In Ops they began to feel the tremors again that this constant bombardment caused. "Inform our Captains of the situation, ask if they can do anything to assist us."

"Yes, sir." Commander Hett could only wait as his station kept trembling under the attack. "Sir, the _Salvador_ is going to make a pass but they can't stick around."

"It will have to do, concentrate your fire on the raiders and leave the cruisers to the _Salvador_." No sooner had he said that or the _Salvador_ gracefully weaved itself out of the melee going on in front of Babylon 5 and sped away at warp 1 towards the station. She was on top of the Drakh cruisers in seconds barely slowing down to full impulse to hammer them with a combination of phaser fire and quantum torpedoes.

The Drakh crewing those ships barely noticed the _Salvador_ as it already turned around to head back to the station while the Drakh cruisers exploded. But a worried Hett already saw another flock of ships standing by in hyperspace, ready to begin a third attack on his station. He also saw what effect the tricobalt torpedoes were having, but he couldn't do anything for the _Odyssey_. He just had to make certain their ships had somewhere to go once this was over.

**USS _Odyssey_**  
"Jumppoints opening! Here they come."

Walker had waited for that warning from Retudo. "Send the signal." This would only work if he timed it right. The jumppoints had opened now and the Drakh came poring out as they had done twice already. They weren't in firing range yet but they would be any moment now, the allied fleet behind them was also advancing once again.

Then three jumppoints opened up between the two opposing fleets and a group of yellow-green squid like ships came out of them. They were clearly organic and consisted out of six large ships accompanied by more then a dozen of smaller ships and many fighters. They slowly moved towards the Drakh fleet as everyone waited for their reaction.

**Drakh cruiser _Nashta_**  
Zheral trembled as he saw the Vorlon fleet coming towards him. At first he couldn't believe they would interfere but a quick look at the scanner confirmed these were Vorlon ships. The fleet he was commanding was the last one. The _Glarh_ didn't carry anymore ships. Against the battered remains of the allied fleet they could have succeeded in destroying at least one of the Federation ships.

But not against the Vorlons and if they left, then the attack against the Federation station would also have to be aborted. But wasting their ships against the Vorlons was foolish, their masters had to be told about this.

"Order the fleet to return to hyperspace. We must inform our masters of what the Vorlons have done." He spat out the word Vorlons, but they always did that.

**Babylon 5, CnC  
**Captain Sheridan watched in relief how the Drakh retreated, all of them. He wouldn't have guessed that the Vorlons would interfere. But there they were. Maybe they had come because they thought Kosh was in danger, but he could have simply left if it was about that. In any case, they didn't need Walker's bluff now. He ordered to contact captain Walker again, he had done a lot to save his station.

"Captain Walker, I think I can speak for everybody when I say 'thank you'. Without you and the Vorlons we might not have made it. Still, it's a good thing we didn't have to use your bluff. What would it have been anyway?"

"Thank you, captain. But I actually did use it." He turned his head to the right. "Deactivate the emitters." On Sheridan's scanner, the amazed captain saw how the Vorlon fleet simply faded away and was replaced by a flight of Federation probes. "How?"

Walker gave a thin smile. "We gutted all of our class 10 probes and put a holo-emitter inside along with equipment that allowed it to send out fake bioreadings. We hid our three Delta Flyers in a hyperspace eddy we discovered while we were examining local hyperspace. We had managed to squeeze our newest jumpengine inside them, good for one jump. If the Drakh had taken a closer look or if they had taken longer to retreat, the probes would have run out of power and we would have been in trouble. But it worked!"

"I don't think the Vorlons will be very happy about this."

"Maybe, but you didn't know about this so they can only complain to us."

**Mid-range military base at Vega, Hyperion-X EAS _Alamo_**  
He and his new ship had arrived at Vega a week ago. They had spent more then 2 months refitting the ship so that it could carry the new armament but Captain Bruschikov had preferred it if they hadn't tinkered with his ship. Earthforce was still scrambling to set up a convincing defense against the Federation ships, convincing for President Clark that is. That is why they had mutilated his ship and then banished him here, to the least likely place they would show up.

They would only be in danger if the Centauri decided to attack but that wouldn't happen. But there had been a few unidentified contacts in the area. The Centauri however hadn't attacked anybody after the fiasco with the Federation ship and they had a treaty with them. Most of the ships here wouldn't stand a chance against them anyway, as most of the fleet here consisted of Novas and even some Olympus class corvettes. There were only two Omega destroyers and four Hyperions, his included.

The captain was dragged out of his gloomy thoughts by an alarm. "Captain, multiple jumppoints are opening!"

"Where?"

"Here." Before he could scold his sensor officer for giving such imprecise information the jumppoints not far from his own ship began to spat out ships. They were Centauri. A Primus flanked by several Vorchans began tearing into the EA ships patrolling the area. The Primus was only now launching its crescent shaped Sentri fighters. Luck was with him as his ship was spared in the initial bombardment. "Prime the weapon, inform the base of our situation. Line us up with the Primus and fire!"

For a long time, humanity had lacked the technology to manipulate gravity. But lately this had changed and the new Warlock class would be the first Earth ship to have artificial gravity. But the technology also had other applications and one of them was the use of gravimetric fields to manipulate neutron streams. It didn't require the fine control artificial gravity needed but it took a lot of power to make it work.

The _Alamo_ had been refitted to carry such a weapon. It meant stripping it of every other armament except two pulse cannons, installing two extra reactors and praying that it wouldn't blow up this time. During testing, it had gone wrong on several occasions and Bruschikov hoped it would be different this time. And it was.

A green beam erupted from the Hyperion-X and hit the Primus. It was known to have a glass jaw and this proved true on this occasion. The gravimetric shield protecting the Primus did little to blunt the attack as it hit between the prongs of the ship. The beam slammed through the open hangar door as the ship was still launching its fighters. It went right through one of the fusion reactors and was stopped by another. Both reactors lost containment and their contents began to eat through them. Soon one side of the ship was being devoured by nuclear fire and the hull there became white-hot. Escape pods were launched and the ship began to drift.

But Bruschikov was alone by this time, his support already obliterated by the Centauri. The remaining Vorchans now ganged up on the Hyperion-X as it hopelessly tried to fire again. Elsewhere in the system, the slaughter was repeated as the Centauri laid waste to the mid-range military base, the fleet and the colony. They couldn't be very thorough, they were on a schedule, but as the fleet jumped back to hyperspace they left a burning colony behind along with a message for the people of Earth.

TBC

Author's notes: How did they managed to fake the Vorlon ships you ask? Their appearance can hardly be a secret as a Vorlon Dreadnought has made a visit to the station on two separate occasions. The fake bioreadings were a combination of data they had from their detailed scan of the White Star, the general scans they made of Babylon 5 when they arrived, the battlecrab remains and their own data on organic ships the Federation has encountered in their home universe. Combined it's enough to fool anyone that doesn't look closely or doesn't have the equipment to do so in the first place.


	24. Shadow war

Author's notes: I should have mentioned this sooner but this story has now generated more then a hundred reviews! Thanks everybody for caring and lets keep posting those reviews. I just heard that they canned Enterprise. While I haven't seen season 4 yet I heard it was getting good, it seems to be a trend these days to cancel good scifi shows. Crusade and Firefly come to mind, it is sad.

And now for your questions:

X-over: The Centauri have left him no choice, but you can read more about that in this chapter.

Agent-G: Yes, Morden did supply the Centauri with the information that the EA had stolen some of their debris. But the Centauri themselves have their own spies too and a mid-range military base location isn't exactly classified. Patrol schedules are however.

grayangle: Some reactions you will see in this chapter, others will be shown in coming chapters.

Worker72: What you should be wondering is will the Shadows realize in time that it wasn't the Vorlons that interfered or will they act before they get all the facts?

I would further like to thank the above readers as well as rankokun alpha, Jerry Unipeg and ariel stormcloud for their positive reviews and my betareader Urgo for his hard work. This story would be unreadable without you.**  
**

** Shadow war**

War is the only game in which it doesn't pay to have the home-court advantage.  
- Dick Motta

Captain's log, stardate 55913.4/1-12-2260  
Since it's beginning to look our stay in this universe will be long I decided to begin adding the local date to my logs. We have managed to block the Drakh's assault and we didn't loose a single pilot. Our fighter pilots and the officers manning the runabouts had been wearing their space suits and the emergency transporters managed to get them all to safety. So we only lost three Peregrines and one runabout but I am worried. It is only a matter of time before they find out about our transporters and I believe some on the staff of Babylon 5 already have a suspicion that we have the technology.

Unfortunately, my own crew didn't get off so easy. Crewmen Voris and McDermott died when a plasma conduit exploded in their section. In a war, losses are inevitable. But we are only a small community and a long way from home, making these losses that much sadder. The additions to our community seem be adjusting well and studying hard. They are still a bit disbelieving about how we treat telepaths, even after experiencing it for more then a month. The look on their faces when they saw a transporter in action for the first time was reported to be priceless. I hope they will be ready to begin their duties soon, it looks like we will need everybody.

We were not the only ones attacked, almost every race has suffered one or more attacks by the Drakh although ours seems to have been largest one. Even the Minbari have suffered losses as the Drakh hit the shipyards where their new White Stars were made. Production has been cut in half and several ships still under construction were lost. The death toll from all these attacks is already running into the tens of thousands.

We will do what we can to stop them and both the _Salvador_ and the_ Thunderchild_ are already on their way. The_ Salvador_ will patrol Brakiri and Drazi space to aid in their defense and I have offered the Minbari to increase the security around their White Star shipyards by deploying a few subspace sensors. If they accept, the _Thunderchild_ will help them first before moving on to help the Vree and the Gaim defend their territory. Only because of our newfound ability to use warp in hyperspace can we hope to pull this off but we will still be stretched thin.

I will join them as soon as the repairs to my ship are done. Lieutenant Yatoshi ensures me that the _Odyssey_ will be ready to go in a day. But now I have a meeting with the war council. It is there that I will hear the answer from the Minbari government to our offer as well as briefing everybody about what we have learned about Shadow technology so far. It isn't encouraging.

**Earth, Earth Dome**  
President Clark could repeat the speech word for word now. Not his own, the one he was about to give which would go down in history right along with the one by Roosevelt after Pearl Harbor or the Gettysburg address. No, he was thinking about the message being played over and over in Vega. The Centauri had placed mines around the ships they lost and the transmitter making it impossible for now to shut it down or study more of their technology.

"I, Emperor Cartagia," it began, "can no longer tolerate the aggressive polices of the Earth Alliance aimed at conquering my people. Not only have you stolen property belonging to the Centauri Republic but you have also begun a buildup of forces along our border. It is because of these threatening gestures that I declare war on the Earth Alliance, you will no longer keep us from our rightful place among the stars."

How the hell had the Centauri found out that they had taken a few things from the debris field? All they had was one intact Sentri fighter, the remains of several others and some bits and pieces of a Vorchan. They had managed to copy the fighter's computer systems so Thunderbolt pilots could now pull maneuvers that would have got them killed before. They could use every edge they could find.

Contact had been lost with Sinzar and Beta 4 some time after Vega got hit and Earthforce was convinced the Centauri had hit those colonies too. But were they still there, preparing to attack Vega again and stay there this time or were they already on their way? No matter, they would find a surprise waiting for them at Vega.

**Babylon 5, War room**  
Before Captain Walker could hear the answer of the Minbari he had to answer a few questions from Ambassador Delenn about the battle itself. More specifically how he had ended it. "You used the image of Vorlon warships without their consent or a warning to us. Why didn't you simply use the images of Federation ships instead?"

"There are two reasons for that. First of, it would be highly unlikely for a fleet of Starfleet ships to arrive just in the nick of time. They knew we are far from home so they would immediately suspect that it was some kind of deception. But there was also another reason." Walker paused to consider how he could formulate it best. "The Drakh may have known intellectually how powerful our ships were, I doubt that they have realized that the only reason they lasted as long as they did was because we had to hold back. The Vorlons on the other hand, seem to have a reputation as powerful and mysterious. The Drakh have most certainly heard stories of them so when they saw that Vorlon fleet they thought with their hearts instead of their minds."

The answer wasn't good enough for Delenn. "But that does not change the fact that you did not ask permission for this."

"No, it doesn't. But the Vorlons are on our side, are they not Ambassador Kosh?" Walker had directed this question at Kosh, who hadn't said a word so far.

VVVVVV

Kosh rarely made an appearance in these gatherings. Usually he only went to strengthen the resolve of the children, but not this time. He needed to know how much the Federationists had learned about Shadow technology. It would give him valuable clues about their own abilities but there was also their continuing insolence.

Through his ship's sensors he had followed the battle. Shielding, some kind of retractable armour, directed energy weapons and a weapon that could destabilize jumppoints. But that wasn't even the most astonishing technology he had seen in action. None of the younger races had detected it, but on four separate occasions the Federationist pilots used teleportation to escape their craft. It wasn't dimensional slip technology like the Vree used. No, this teleporter actually broke down the pilot on a subatomic level and then reassembled him some where else.

And then of course was their final surprise. Even he was fooled for a moment before noticing it was an illusion. The biggest clue was the absence of Vorlons on the ships and the fact that neither he nor his ship could sense the minds of the ships. Then there were the numerous anomalies in the readings from the ships, but it took him even longer to realize just who had dared to use their image in this manner.

He was still angry, even now as Delenn questioned the Starfleet Captain about why he had done this. But he couldn't just throw Walker across the room, he had to keep up his image of being aloof. "But the Vorlons are on our side, are they not ambassador Kosh?" Captain Walker had directed that question at him and he should answer.

"Yes." Insolent, the Vorlons weren't on their side. They were on the side of the Vorlons. This latest stunt had finally managed to rouse the others into action but they didn't have a clue about what to do. If they tried to remove them, the Vorlons would suffer losses even if they used a fleet. Not to mention the fact that it would be difficult to convince the younger races it was for the best. But if they did nothing to stop them, then the situation would remain out of their control. That was equally unacceptable.

VVVVV

Captain Walker was satisfied with the short answer from Kosh. It left room for interpretation and he would give his first. "I am certain that it was only time that prevented your people from sending any ships to help us, Ambassador." At this, Ambassador Kosh his iris narrowed, but he said nothing. "This way you did contribute to the defense. Now, shall we continue with what we have learned about Shadow vessels so far?" There were no objections; they had to be ready if the Shadows decided to help the Drakh.

"We didn't get much material from the Shadow ships we destroyed, apparently the ship has some kind of self-destruct built into every cell. Once a battlecrab is dead, the cells fall apart making any analysis about their capabilities impossible. Luckily we managed to get a few pieces into stasis before this could happen and we still have the sensor logs of our battle with them."

"The weapon of a battlecrab is a coherent energy beam which seems to work on a similar principle as our own phaser. Their armour is equally impressive, it seems to be capable of distributing the energy from an energy weapon across the hull. They use a gravimetric field generated by their spines for propulsion. We will now take a closer look at a cell from these ships." On the PADDs Walker had passed around before the meeting a black cell appeared. It seemed to be filled almost completely with organelles.

"Now you can see the reason for the toughness of their armour, three separate cell membranes protect every cell and also function as energy conduits distributing energy where it is needed. We suspect that a battlecrab doesn't have a central powercore but that every cell produces a moderate amount of energy which is used to power the other organelles and the excess energy is more then enough to propel the ship and to power the weapon."

"They seem to draw power directly from hyperspace itself so they don't need fuel. We have theorized that his permanent connection to hyperspace is also the reason why they don't need a jumppoint to enter hyperspace. Every cell simply increases the connection dragging the ship and everything in it into hyperspace. Very efficient and it's also making it impossible for us to scan the interior of their ships."

Garibaldi now interrupted him. "This is all very fascinating, but this only tells us how good there ships are and why. We already now that telepaths are a weakness to them, so what did you come up with?"

Walker shifted in his chair before answering. "Nothing you could use. As we have seen yesterday, subspace can react violently with hyperspace under certain conditions. We think we could destabilize the connection each cell has by reconfiguring the deflector to emit verteron particles but we are still running simulations. We have no idea how jumpengines would react to such a field nor the exact reaction of the cells. They could simply die if the connection is lost or the verterons could cause the connection to flare up causing an explosion."

Garibaldi summarized it in his own manner. "In other words, you've got squat."

"Basically. The details are all in the report. Even bioweapons are out. Not only does the Federation frown on the use of such weapons but it wouldn't work anyway. Even if the weapon could manage to break through the three layers of membrane it would still be stopped by the nanites. They seem to maintain the cells and act as an immune system but they do more. When we first brought aboard a specimen it tried to fuse with the ship. We had to vaporize it or it would have succeeded. We will just have to use telepaths, our wits and brute force to win."

Sheridan now entered the discussion as well. "And what about those tricobalt torpedoes you used? It might not work on the Shadows but they sure worked on the Drakh."

Walker was already shaking his head. "They worked but I only have four of them left and you can't replicate tricobalt. I already checked if we could produce it but one of the elements necessary for it's production can't be found…here." He almost used the words 'in this universe'; he still had to be careful. Then Sheridan's commlink beeped. An anxious Corwin got on the line. "Sir, we just got a report from ISN. You won't believe this."

"Route it through here." On a screen they could now see the news broadcast. "Good morning. This is an Interstellar Network News special report. Reporting live from the ISN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, your host, Alison Higgins." The reporter looked grave. "At 2:00 AM Earth time this morning President Clark was again proven right when the Centauri traitorously attacked Vega. Subsequent reports indicate they also attacked Sinzar and Beta 4 but Earthforce reports that the Centauri retreated after sustaining heavy losses. President Clark has announced that he will be addressing Earth in a few moments, we now switch to Earth Dome."

President Clark too looked grave, but he didn't seem healthy giving him a somewhat sinister look. "My fellow humans. As you know I have struggled to defeat our enemies as they were trying to tear apart our society from within. As they saw how successful I was, they resorted to violence and now they try to subjugate us by force instead of persuasion. I for one will not allow such a thing to come to pass. As of now, the Earth Alliance is at war with the Centauri Republic and we will not stop until we have made them see the error of their actions.

"The days we cowered before the Minbari are long gone. What the Centauri now face is a new and invigorated Earth that will fight with everything she has. The events of the past few hours have reminded me of another unannounced and unprovoked attack and I say to the Centauri the same words that were used so long ago. You have awakened a slumbering giant." After that the reporter was back but she only repeated earlier information, nothing new.

"He got the quote wrong." Those were the first words spoken by Walker.

The former Earth Force officers however were quiet. It was their home that was now being threatened and they couldn't help because Earth considered them traitors. They would be anxious to hear what exactly had happened since ISN was a propaganda channel for Clark now. "The _Odyssey_ could swing by Vega and those other systems on the way. If any of you want to come along to evaluate the situation just say so. We can send you back in a shuttle afterwards so it won't be such a big delay."

Captain Sheridan jumped on the idea. "Mister Garibaldi and I need to stay here, so that leaves commander Ivanova. If there is no other business, I believe this meeting is over." Nobody objected and everybody stood up to attend to their own business. Walker quickly moved over to talk to Delenn. The Minbari were a proud people and he didn't want to embarrass them by asking them if they needed help in public. "Ambassador, I trust you had a chance to talk to your government about our request?"

"I have and after careful deliberations we have decided that you may assist us. But your ship must leave after installing the hyperspace sensors."

"Of course, I will inform Captain Turol of your decision. She should arrive at the shipyards in six hours." Walker gave a nod and moved away. There was a lot to do. A single eye watched him as he left. Kosh had heard the conversation. He had heard how they now combined their own FTL-technology with hyperspace to move faster then even the Vorlons could. Using unapproved technology like that was unsettling and they were now spreading it around like candy. They would have to finish their disagreement with the Shadows quickly or they would not be able to undo the damage.

VVVVV

Delenn and Sheridan were walking through the station. Delenn had been offered the position of Ranger One, to lead the rangers now that Sinclair was gone. "I think it's a great idea," Sheridan said. "You are the natural choice to take over as head of the Rangers."

Delenn was more reluctant to accept. "It is the logical choice. I do not think it will be the popular choice."

Sheridan was puzzled. "Why not? Who would object?"

"If I am lucky, perhaps no one. If not." Delenn left the rest unsaid. "I have decided to hold the initiation ceremony here. If that meets with your approval?"

"Oh, not a problem." Sheridan hesitated. "This is a little public. I mean until now the Rangers have only operated behind the scene."

"That role will change soon enough. Before that happens they should receive some of the recognition they deserve."

"Alright. I'll have Michael arrange a security team just to be safe. When is this ceremony going to take place?"

"With the war now being fought openly, we do not have much time. I want to hold it tomorrow, everybody will have arrived by that time."

"Ok, then I better go to get Michael on it. I'll catch up with you later. And again, congratulations." Delenn thanked him and watched him go. She was about to go on her way herself when a voice from behind stopped her.

"Congratulations Delenn." Delenn turned around, she recognized the voice and his hood didn't hide his face. "Power beckons and who among us is strong enough to ignore its siren song."

"Neroon." What was he doing here and what in Valen's name was he talking about?

"A brilliant strategy Delenn." Neroon removed his hood as he moved closer to her. "I had not thought you capable of such ambition. Clearly, I was mistaken."

This didn't clarify things for Delenn. "What are you talking about?"

"The Rangers are commissioned after a thousand years of silence. The religious cast begins constructing new warships without the knowledge or consent of the warrior cast. Now, you have even enlisted the help of outsiders to protect the shipyards."

"You choose not to act. Someone had to act or we would have lost a lot more when the Drakh attacked and caught us unprepared for their assault."

"Perhaps. Which is why we let you have those ships in the beginning. Even allowed Sinclair to train the Rangers, even though it meant diluting the purity of the Rangers by allowing humans to join alongside our own people. We were quite tolerant of your activities but now we are at war.

"Their training is complete and they now require new leadership. By right of tradition the warrior cast should be give given command of the Rangers. That was the law as set down by Valen. Three castes, Worker, Religious, Warrior. They build, you pray and we fight."

"You violated that law when the warrior cast became dominant in the Grey council."

"But the Grey council no longer exists, you've disbanded it. So what do we have now, Delenn?" It was a rhetorical question. "You have undergone the transformation promised by Valen, broken the council and created a vacuum of power. And now, as an eminent leader in the religious cast you plan to take command of a military force and fill that vacuum yourself. After all, our people do need a leader now that they are under attack."

"I have no desire to rule our people."

"I wish I could believe you Delenn, but I don't. A religious zealot propelled by prophecy into a position of military and political power. Always a bad idea. Out of respect I give you this opportunity to walk away from the path you have taken. Refuse the position of Ranger One and turn control of the Rangers over to the warrior cast where it belongs. "

"Or?"

"I am sworn to stop you, Delenn, by any and all means necessary." They stared at each other. Delenn couldn't believe that Neroon had just threatened her like that. Then she heard Lennier call her name, she turned her head only for a moment but Neroon was already gone when se looked back. And Lennier hadn't seen Neroon, judging from his question.

TBC


	25. Veni, vidi

Author's notes: It took me a while to get this story done and the next update will take a while I'm afraid. I haven't heard from Urgo for a while so I now have two more betareaders to ensure that updates won't be delayed in the future. I understand that real life takes precedence and this way that won't be a problem anymore unless I am the one that has to give real life all of my attention.

And now for your questions:

Agent-G: Ah, the Vorlons. The Vorlons will begin to move soon now and I will pay more attention to the telepaths as well. But then again, the Shadows won't be sitting still either….

grayangle: The sensor probes will last for months but the Feds of course won't let the Minbari get their paws on them. Not part of the agreement and the Minbari aren't exactly people with a spotless record.

Worker72: Some of those questions will be answered in this chapter, others in coming chapters. The Shadows won't be killing Kosh because the Vorlons haven't even tried to attack the Shadows yet so they will just stay out of each others way for now and play with their pieces on the board.

Zarathos1: So you too don't like Delenn leading the Rangers? Odd, I never had a problem with it and I question Neroon's capacity to see the bigger picture at this point in time. As for the Vorlons, if they are going to fight directly they will try to do it away from the prying eyes of the younger races. They don't want to look weak or mortal and both are still a possibility when fighting the Shadows.

I would further like to thank the above readers as well as Jerry Unipeg, mikiebee, X-Over and ariel stormcloud for their positive reviews and my new betareaders Tryglaw and Jumster for their fast work.

** Veni, vidi**

"Pleasant it is, when over a great sea the winds trouble the waters, to gaze from shore upon another's great tribulation."  
-Lucretius

**USS _Odyssey  
_**The ceremony confirming Delenn as the Entil'Zha was interesting. Not very elaborate and at the end a Minbari came barging in, carrying a bloodied metal staff. That wasn't part of the ceremony but apparently the Minbari had come close to civil war. Walker wondered if things would have gone differently if they hadn't come to this universe, but they had and that was the situation they had to deal with.

Repairs had been complete and Commander Ivanova was on her way to the bridge. Walker would wait with departing so she could watch the show. He would have liked to be there when the refitted _Churchill_ was launched but it would be another week before she could be launched. People were dying out there and personal feelings had to be set aside.

Local space was still littered with the remains of the Drakh ships. They were already cleaning it up and traffic had resumed. Some of the debris would be studied to learn more about the Drakh but most would be recycled. Replicators couldn't make something out of nothing and the Drakh used some rare materials in their ships.

VVVVVV

Susan had been on board the _Odyssey_ before but it was still a surprise to walk through this ship. And it wasn't just the artificial gravity, the illumination that was much brighter then on an Earthforce ship or the fact that it was from another universe. The composition of the crew and the ease with which they worked together as if it were natural was definitely the strangest thing on the ship.

The doors of the turbolift opened and she entered the bridge. It was almost as big as her quarters, far too roomy for a bridge. The viewscreen simply showed space although you could see a Vree saucer flying away in the distance. As soon as she entered the bridge Captain Walker addressed her. "Ah, Commander Ivanova. I trust Mister Cole will recover?"

"Yes. Apparently his injuries weren't as bad as they were looking."

"Good to hear." Captain Walker now turned his head back to give his orders. "Helm, move us away from the station and jump to hyperspace." Ivanova didn't feel any acceleration but the viewscreen showed they were moving. In seconds the familiar swirl of a jumppoint opened up in front of them and they were in hyperspace.

"Lieutenant Retudo, are we in anybody's sensor range?"

She took a quick look at her display before answering. "Only B5 and DSB, sir."

"Good. Activate the cloak. Helm, plot a course to the Vega system and engage at warp one."

Susan had of course seen this ship go to 'warp' as they called it but the sight on the viewscreen was something else. The normal chaos of hyperspace had been replaced by something that looked like a red tunnel without an end. "So why did you lower the lighting after cloaking?"

Walker turned around before answering. "I think it helps remind everybody we are now operating stealthily. It's purely for psychological reasons."

"I see. How soon will we be arriving at Vega, anyway?"

"If we could just jump back into the system it would only take four hours."

"Four hours! But even the White Star would take a little more than three days to reach Vega."

"And this is just at warp 1. Unfortunately I can't go any faster, it seems warp field harmonics work differently in hyperspace but we are working on it. However, it will take a little longer because I am planning to sneak into the system by tagging along with another ship."

"And how do you expect to get out of Vega?"

"The same way we got in or we simply warp out of the system and then jump. Once we know the layout of their defenses, we know how far out we have to go before they can't detect us doing so."

"Wait, I thought you could scan normal space from hyperspace?"

"We can, to a point. Large masses like suns, planets or moons aren't a problem but even the massive monstrosities you are using as ships are getting lost in the background noise generated by hyperspace. We can detect it when they are about to open a jumppoint because of the unique properties of Quantium-40 but that is the extent of our abilities in that area."

"Let me guess. You are working on it."

Walker smiled. "Yes, actually. But I am afraid we are reaching the limits of what modifying can do. Only a refit would improve performance now and we don't have the time for that. So we will just have to do with what we've got."

"Which is more than some other people have", murmured Susan.

Walker hadn't heard that although he had seen she said something. But since it was obviously not meant for him, he didn't ask what she said. "Commander Thalev, if you could meet me in my ready room. I have some things that I need to discuss with you."

"Of course, sir." As the two were almost in the ready room, Captain Walker issued his last order. "Commander Ivanova, you have the bridge." The look on her face was worth it. The course had been laid in, there was nothing that could even detect them at the moment and if there were problems he would be back in his seat in a few seconds.

"I what?" But the doors had already closed and Susan hesitantly took a seat. It was comfortable, she could get used to this.

VVVVV

"What did you wish to discuss with me, Captain?"

Walker seemed to hesitate for a moment. "It's a personnel matter actually, old friend."

Thalev allowed a smile. He had known Peter for years but in front of the crew he seldom allowed himself to crack a joke and tried to keep things professional. And this hesitance could only mean one thing. "Trouble with a women."

"Yes. Sandra issued an ultimatum and I didn't comply."

Thalev was puzzled by the remark. His antennae crossed in confusion. "An ultimatum? Is this something typical in human relationships or is this just your inability to talk about them?"

Walker was still facing the window. "We had dinner last night and she asked about where I grew up. I tried to change the subject and she told me she couldn't do this anymore. I refused to tell her almost anything about my past because it would tell her we come from another universe and she sees it as a sign that I don't trust her."

Thalev just shook his head. "I take it you have talked with the other captains about letting her in on the secret?" The way Peter looked away told him everything. "You didn't. Why are you so quick to bend the rules when it is to help others but when it's for yourself you stick to them no matter the cost? No, don't answer that."

Peter just wanted to change the subject. Thalev was right but he couldn't do anything about it at the moment. "I am going to miss you being my first officer."

"So will I. Are you sure you can't have L'Rrran fill the position instead of me? She has the necessary experience and who could possibly replace me?"

Walker had to laugh. "Nobody, but you are the most experienced officer and we don't have a lot of those. Iceren doesn't have your flair but he will make a competent first officer."

**Hyperspace, Galen's Pinnace**  
He was currently in hyperspace trying to sneak into the Epsilon system. His order had left known space to preserve their knowledge and to keep it from being used to ill purpose. And then these newcomers appeared and he was sent to investigate. So far they had managed to surprise him twice.

The first time was while he was still on his way here. He was travelling off the beacons when he was nearing a group of Fen. Large, green, jellyfish-like creatures that were now being studied by a Federation ship. He wasn't detected but every time he tried to get closer, his ship sensed an increase in energy that indicated he would be detected if he got any closer. And he hadn't even tried to use active scanners to get a better picture of the Starfleet ship. When the ship moved of he tried to follow but it suddenly accelerated to light speed and that was something his ship could not do.

So he traveled to Babylon 5 because he had heard they had established their presence there. And so they had, their sensors again proved to be able to pierce the stealth field that hid his ship. He would never be able to enter normal space without them detecting him, his original plan of slipping in behind a freighter was no longer feasible. But there was something else he could try.

An hour later a lone Brakiri pinnace flew through the jumpgate and requested a docking space. Traffic around the station was still calm so it only took an hour before the pilot was standing at customs. Here too the Federation had put up scanners but like their bigger cousins they seemed to be looking more for hidden things than camouflaged ones. But this way it would still take some time to gather enough information.

**USS****_Odyssey_, a day later**  
Ivanova was again standing on the bridge of the _Odyssey_. They were still in hyperspace despite having arrived at Vega hours ago. The reason for this was on their viewscreen now. From this angle it looked just like any other Earthforce destroyer but the Federation scanners had told her otherwise. They had been looking for a ship that looked as if it were going to jump into Vega when they found these four.

They got some strange readings from these four destroyers who were moving faster then they should be capable of towards Vega. So Captain Walker had ordered to approach them and get a better look. Everybody on the bridge had been startled when they got a good look at these new EA destroyers, the origins of their modifications unmistakable.

Black spines jutted out of the armour on several places and the armour seemed to be fused with Shadow biomatter. They had quickly determined that it wasn't in fact genuine Shadow armour but a synthetic copy of it. Everybody was curious what exactly had been done to those ships to make them look even uglier then they used to be. "Alright T'nal, I take it you have gathered enough data by now to tell us what Earthforce did to those ships?" Asked Captain Walker.

"I have, captain. As you know the organic armour used on those ships is a synthetic copy of Shadow armour, but it is clearly inferior to the original. There is no indication of artificial gravity onboard and power seems to be fluctuating. Their weapons are also upgraded and are fusion based. This type clearly marks an improvement in comparison with a standard Earthforce destroyer."

"How would you rate their performance against other ships?"

"To us, the improvements in its defenses and firepower are insignificant. And the _Churchill_ will be capable of defeating one of them once she is finished as well. But unmodified Earthforce and Centauri ships would loose against such a ship in a one-on-one battle, once they are finished."

That caught Susan's ear. "Finished? What do you mean with 'once they are finished'? They look ready to me." Walker too would like to know what T'nal had meant with that last comment.

Lieutenant T'nal turned slightly to address Susan. "In the period of time that we have monitored them, our sensors detected numerous power fluctuations in their systems. Some are getting too much power while others shut down. This, combined with the fact that Earthforce didn't use these before now, leads me to the conclusion that these ships are new and have in fact been rushed into service. They are still untested and it seems to have numerous design flaws. For example, the synthetic Shadow armour is emitting low levels of theta radiation which will cause health problems for the crew if they are exposed to it for four months."

"No danger to my crew, I hope?"

"No, captain. Our ship has enough protection but the crew on those destroyers does not, nor would it be safe for maintenance workers when the ship is docked."

Something else now called for his attention. "Captain, they are preparing to jump back to normal space."

"Follow them in, Mr. Akudo."

The _Odyssey_ had spent more than an hour in the wake of the destroyer and it continued to do so as she flew through the jumppoint back into normal space. Once the _Odyssey_ was back in normal space, she put some distance between her and the Earthforce ships. "Lieutenant, tell me what the state of the system is."

"I am picking up several Earthforce ships in orbit of the colony, a few Hyperions are patrolling the outer system and I am picking up 10 fighter patrols. The military base is destroyed and the number of humans on the planet is far lower than the population on record. Even without taking into account the Earthforce personnel that has landed there since the attack."

"And the Centauri?"

"I am picking up three debris fields that contain Centauri hull signatures. But they seem to be mined and one doesn't contain any Centauri ships, just a few of their fighters and some kind of message buoy. It is a message from Emperor Cartagia."

"Let me hear the message." They listened to Cartagia's declaration of war. Susan with dread, afraid of what this could mean for Earth.

"We can't do anything more here. Helm, lay in a…." Captain Walker was interrupted by Lieutenant Retudo before he could finish his order. "Sir, I just picked up a weak distress signal coming from an escape pod near the message buoy. It's being drowned out by the Centauri recording."

"So that escape pod is inside the debris field?"

Retudo affirmed that. "It's probably from that adrift Olympus, the pod's engines are inoperable and the single lifesign I am reading is fading. She won't live for much longer, one of the reactors is still operational and leaking radiation."

"How far away are the Earthforce ships?"

"At full burn, they could get here in ten minutes."

Ivanova now added her own weight to this discussion. "They can't get to her, not with the minefield up. I don't suppose you can get through it? "

Walker had a decision to make. He could simply fly away and leave this Earthforce member to die, relations between them weren't exactly amicable but it wouldn't be the right thing. If he decloaked he could get her out of there but only with the transporters. They didn't have the time to try anything else and that would mean revealing the existence of their transporter to Commander Ivanova. But that little secret would have had to come out eventually and he couldn't let a secret stand in the way of helping someone in trouble.

"Standby to drop the cloak. Tell Transporter Room 1 to beam her directly to sickbay. Helm, plot us a course out of this system."

VVVVV

Ensign Kimmer was feeling very weak. She had been in this escape pod for two days now and although food or water weren't a problem yet, the fact that she hadn't been rescued yet was. And the way she was getting weaker and weaker could only mean radiation poisoning, apparently one of the reactors of her ship was leaking.

She didn't know what had happened but one moment she was on her way to the bridge and the other moment the entire ship shook and the order to abandon ship was sound. She had scrambled towards one of the escape pods but it didn't launch properly. And now she was stuck here.

She was currently looking out the small window, looking at all those stars. She was beginning to loose consciousness, she was even starting to see things. Just now, she could see in the distance how an alien ship materialized out of thin space. No, wait. That's not how you say that.

Then light engulfed her and the next thing she knew, she was lying on a soft bed and staring at a bright ceiling. A bald man in some kind of pajama was standing next to her, waving a device over her body. 'Heaven looks really odd', was her last thought before the darkness engulfed her.

**Vega, EAS _Agrippa_**  
Captain Dexter Smith was still uneasy with the upgrades to his ship. It had taken weeks to replace the weapons and graft the synthetic bio-matter to his ship and the result wasn't completely stable. The lighting on the bridge began to flicker again, as were some of the displays. His chief engineer was running herself ragged trying to keep everything working and he had lost a crewmember when he touched an outgrowth of the stuff. It had been removed but his crew was reluctant to go near the area now.

The bio-matter hadn't just strengthened his hull, it had interfaced with the ships systems and improved them. The improved reactors were causing the power problem, it seemed that the stuff wasn't done doing whatever it was doing with the reactors. His Thunderbolts had been improved with the bio-matter as well but didn't have the computer upgrade because the fighter now refused it like an incompatible donor organ.

Then his scanner officer called for his attention. "Captain, a Federation ship just appeared on scanners!"

"Location?" Smith snapped.

"Right next to the Centauri message buoy, it just appeared out of thin air. No jumppoint or that other form of FTL travel was detected."

"Helm, change heading to the Federation ship and alert the other ships about the uninvited guest. Prepare to jump."

**USS_ Odyssey_**  
The Earthforce officer was being treated in sickbay, Ivanova was looking at him accusatorily for hiding such a technology and Earthforce had sent everything that had an engine to intercept him. Captain Walker was about ready to leave the system, especially since one of the Shadow destroyers was travelling through hyperspace. He now had half a minute before it would try to jump back to normal space somewhere near him.

But he had to do one last thing, before leaving. "Mister Iceren, target the message buoy and blow it up. It already almost caused the death of one person and I think everybody has heard it enough times now." A single phaser beam lashed out and took out the message buoy. The minefield was supposed to prevent such a thing but it's makers had never anticipated a ship with such a long range.

The _Odyssey_ now turned away from the minefield and moved off at half impulse, already outpacing the Earthforce ships in normal space. Then a jumppoint opened up in front of the _Odyssey_. It was the _Agrippa_, the ship captained by Smith, which immediately fired at the Federation ship. That ship had however already changed it's heading and the Earthforce ship missed. The _Odyssey _didn't stay any longer and went to warp, quickly disappearing from the scanners of the Earthforce ships.

Now that they were out of the system and no longer pursued by Earthforce, Ivanova didn't wait any longer.

"How many more secrets do you have to save the day?" Asked Ivanova.

"Ah, well. That would be secret number one." At Ivanova's glare he continued. "You never asked us about the transporter and we didn't want to shock you anymore than necessary. You have never even heard of transporters so we didn't want to interfere with your development."

"What changed?"

"Non-interference doesn't mean I will stand by and watch someone die. How do you think we saved Sandra and her crew from the _Churchill_?"

"Garibaldi already suspected you had something similar to the Vree teleporter, but that has a small range and takes a lot of power. So how does it work?"

"Yes, we were afraid he might suspect something. As far as I can tell, our transporter and the dimensional slip teleporter used by the Vree use a fundamentally different technique. The Vree apparently transport something by phasing the target through another dimension. Our transporter disassembles the target on the quantum level and puts it back together again somewhere else."

"Wait a second. Your teleporter pulls a person into billions of pieces which are then put back together again kilometers away. How often does that go wrong?"

"Almost never unless you're onboard a starship called Enterprise. But the chances are you will sooner have an accident onboard this ship then an accident with a transporter."

"So when exactly do I get on that runabout again?"

Walker just smiled.

TBC


	26. Order, Chaos and the rest

Author's notes: Well, this update took a while and as you can see it didn't have anything to do with the length of the chapter. Update will continue to be slow while events in my story will only escalate. I would like to thank my betareaders for being so much faster then me.

And now for your questions:

Zarathos1: What the Centauri's have done and what surprises they have is something for the next chapter.

Worker72: As I see it, Starfleet captains all have different opinions about the prime directive and when to apply it. Walker is no different in this respect, he too will uphold it as he thinks this should be done.

grayangle: The chapter isn't light nor is it the calm before the storm. I would more call it the calm after the storm, it was primarily to show how the Centauri-EA war was shaping up and to finally reveal to a few B5'ers the existence of transporters. I knew that had to happen sooner or later but it kept getting postponed because of plausibility.

Sati James: They already saw how the Odyssey took on four Shadow battlecrabs and win. They already know the Starfleet ships are powerful enough to take on First Ones. Taking on Vorlon ships isn't needed to make that point.

Agent-G: I don't know to what ship you are referring so I can't answer that question. The Vorlon reaction to transporter technology was in chapter 24, Kosh found out on his own during the battle at Babylon 5.

The ensign is my own creation and is not based on a character of the show.

I would further like to thank the above readers as well as Jerry Unipeg, mikiebee, X-Over, AlbertG, TrekkifulRon, EvilClone, Crystalina, Tjackflash and ariel stormcloud for their positive reviews.

** Order, Chaos and the Rest**

'He who has great power should use it lightly.'  
-Seneca

**Day 4 of the Shadow war, USS _Odyssey  
_**Captain Walker was in sickbay talking to Doctor Joe about their latest patient. Commander Ivanova had already been sent back to Babylon 5 but the doctor didn't want to move the Earthforce officer then so she was still onboard. "How is our patient, doctor?"

"Recovering. I had to treat her for radiation poisoning and oxygen deprivation. Apparently the life-support on the escapepod malfunctioned. She would not have lasted much longer."

Walker now turned to look at the ensign on the bio-bed. "Wake her up, we can't keep her sedated indefinitely."

"I was about to recommend that." The hologram moved to the bio-bed grabbing a hypo-spray on the way without even looking and filling it. Walker followed him and watched how he quickly woke up the patient with the hypo-spray.

VVVVV

She woke up slowly. At first she just wanted to go to sleep again when she realized she was feeling gravity and lying in a comfortable bed. She was out of the pod, she had been rescued. Her eyes flew open to see where she was. She must have been out for a while if they managed to get her to the station.

But when she opened her eyes, things didn't look right. It was far too bright for a Medlab and the lighting looked wrong. For a moment she was afraid she had been captured by the Centauri but the ceiling didn't look like a Centauri design. Then she spotted the people standing by her bed and she noticed they were human.

It took another moment for the uniforms to register on her awakening mind. She was on a Federation ship! Everybody in Earthforce had heard about the rogue colonists from parts unknown flying fantastic spaceships. She also heard a few things on ISN about these people that diminished the relief she had felt when she determined she hadn't been captured by the Centauri.

She recognized Walker from the news although he looked a little different in real life. "What am I doing here?"

The Federation officer seemed to find the question amusing. "I take it you already know what happened to your ship and who we are?"

Elise had seen the Centauri ships after the pod had launched so she knew who had attacked them, but she just nodded. It was enough for Captain Walker. "You were suffering from radiation poisoning and your pod's life-support wasn't working. Your distress signal was drowned out by the Centauri message, we were the only ones that picked it up so we brought you aboard to treat you."

"I see. I demand that you drop me of at the nearest EA system, you have no right to hold me here."

The Federation captain got a little smile on his face before answering. "I am afraid that the nearest Earth Alliance holding is 41 lightyears in the opposite direction we are heading to."

"Where the hell am I?"

"Hyperspace at the moment, but in normal space we would be in Pak'ma'ra territory…"

Kimmer interrupted him. "Pak'ma'ra space! How long was I unconscious?"

The doctor answered this question. "You were unconscious for nearly 36 hours. But I am pleased to say that you're healed now, although you will feel a little weak for a day or two. I suggest you eat well and drink plenty of liquids and that you come to see me in two days for a check-up."

"I have no intention of staying here. I will find my own way back to Earth, thank you very much. Just drop me off at the nearest planet and I will take it from there."

"I am not about to dump you, miss. I can arrange for your return after we have helped the Pak'ma'ra. Until then you can enjoy our hospitality."

'Help the Pak'ma'ra, what was he talking about?' But before she could voice the question, the captain's badge beeped. "Sir, we just picked up a distress call from a Pak'ma'ra convoy 2 lightyears from here. They are being attacked by the Drakh."

Walker didn't hesitate and started walking out of sickbay as he gave his orders. "Change course to intercept them and go to red alert. Tell Lieutenant Yatoshi that I want as much speed as he can squeeze out of the engines." He briefly looked back to address Kimmer. "Seems we will have to continue this discussion another time ensign." And he was gone.

Leaving Kimmer to wonder who the Drakh were and how safe exactly she would be onboard this ship. She turned to the doctor to get some answers. "Alright, just who are the Drakh and why is this ship racing to save the Pak'ma'ra?"

**Mid-range military bases at Beta Durani**  
Colonel Carter was reviewing the data again. After that meeting two months ago she had been put in charge of collecting and analyzing every scrap of data they could find about the Federation. It was frustrating how little headway she had made and much of her staff had been reassigned to work on the Centauri problem after they attacked.

She had just finished reviewing the data they got from one of the salvaged Centauri fighters showing the fight between the _Salvador_ and that Centauri taskforce. At first the Federation ship had tried to flee but the Centauri had managed to prevent that, but paid a heavy price. What came next confirmed that she had correctly identified those tubes as missile launchers but she would have never predicted that they would be that powerful. The radiation profile they managed to get from the debris showed that it was an antimatter explosion.

The yield of the explosion meant that their shields were a lot more powerful than she had initially expected. Even if their shield could only stop two of these missiles they were still so powerful that fighters would be useless against them and any first strike would not be enough to pierce the shields.

Next up were the sensor logs they managed to purchase from a Vree concerning the battle at Babylon 5 from just a few days ago. They got invaluable data on the capabilities of several races including the Minbari but she was just interested in what it showed of the Federation ships. Earthforce was in an uproar when they saw the modified Omega and how it performed but she was more upset by the Federation fighters. She had already gotten word they had them but this was the first time she got to see them. They seemed to be more like miniature ships with their shields and low maneuverability. Then there was that little show of the _Salvador_ as it simply made a short hop over to the Federation station to help out before returning. She couldn't make heads or tails about what they used to collapse those jumppoints but it was clear that those ships carried at least three kinds of missiles.

And there was the last encounter in the Vega system, two days after the Centauri had attacked. It was the _Odyssey_ which had simply appeared out of nowhere, but it seemed to be consistent with how they made their first appearance at Babylon 5. Which left the question how they got there and why they deactivated their stealth device? They could have used their own FTL-technology to get to the system or sneaked in along with the reinforcements. But they were certainly a lot faster than any Earthforce ship, they had to have made the trip in about a day or less. Their reaction to the opening jumppoint was phenomenal, almost instantaneous. If she didn't know it was impossible she would have thought they had picked up the ship as it was traveling through hyperspace. The deactivation of their stealth device could be related to the fact that they blew up the Centauri transmitter. Perhaps the powerful signal interfered with the Federation system. Carter got excited, if this was true then there was a way to safeguard their installations against a sneak attack from them.

**Day 5 of the Shadow war, Ku-san  
**The last century had been rough on the Sanchin. They had barely begun to look outside their world when the cruel galaxy dumped its problems in their system. Two space-faring empires had decided to fight their war out in the Ku-San system and in the process the homeworld of the Sanchin got bombarded. But the Sanchin hadn't given up after that setback but began to rebuild their world and in so doing attracted the attention of others….

The Drakh had observed their struggles, how they overcame the disaster and now offered them an opportunity. They told them about the Shadows and their philosophy and managed to convince many to come with them to Z'ha'Dum. But others stayed behind out of love for their home or simply because they disagreed with the Drakh.

And those kept working to rebuild their homeworld, by this time they had already reached the stars although hyperspace technology still eluded them.

But this story would end today, when they came. The fleet was large, it was huge and in the center flew a ship as big as a city. The few armed spacecraft the Sanchin had managed to build were launched and advanced, although it was clear they could do nothing. Before they even got within firing range they were swept aside like leaves in a storm and the alien armada continued on towards the planet.

The giant ship blocked out the sun, before realigning itself to commence the attack. As the attack began, the Sanchin could do nothing but stare as death rained from the skies. Hour after hour the bombardment continued until the planet was reduced to a charred cinder. Nothing remained to remind of the people that once dwelt there.

The Vorlons looked upon their work and were pleased, the test had shown that the Planet Killer was ready. This target had been of minor importance, they could now concentrate on other races that had strayed….

**Bahe, Abbai colony world**  
The colony was located in a remote part of space, of no strategic importance nor did it contain any rare resources. These aspects combined with the presence of a habitable water-world made this system ideal for the Abbai and they had settled it despite being far from the rest of their worlds. In the last centuries it's strategic value and economic importance had grown because of its proximity to the upcoming Earth Alliance.

Defenses were minimal, only six Abbai ships were there to protect the inhabitants. But Abbai ships had shields, something that made them formidable and unique, at least that is how it was. Perhaps it was coincidence, perhaps it was not, but this day would see the destruction of two planets. It began with a scream, a horrible scream that tore through space announcing the arrival of the Shadows.

First their terrifying ships shimmered into space, already enough to cause a mad dash for the jumpgate by every space-worthy ship. Only the six Abbai ships belonging to the defense force moved towards the threat, knowing from previous encounters that their shields would not stop the Shadow weaponry. Then something else appeared behind and among the Shadow fleet.

It looked like a black cloud, engulfing the Shadow ships and blocking the sun, moving rapidly towards the planet. The Abbai ships slowed down as their crews were unsure what to do, then they too were engulfed by it.

The cloud kept on moving until it had reached the planet. It ignored the fleeing ships and instead wrapped around the planet until it was hidden from view. No more ships would escape, no one left behind would escape.

Hours later the cloud left again as a triumphant scream echoed through the system. The third planet of the system was once a blue pearl of life, now its oceans were frozen solid and impact craters littered its surface.

**Babylon 5  
**In his quarters, Ambassador Kosh observed what his brothers did. There was no turning back now, they had committed themselves to a course of action and would have to see it through to the end. "It has begun."

TBC


	27. The meeting of Giants

Author's notes: Well, this update took a while and this time it did have something to do with the length of the chapter. This chapter was something I wanted to do for a long time, same thing for the next one. I would like to thank my betareaders for being so much faster then me and spotting more mistakes then I thought I had made.

And now for your questions:

Gyre: Yes, the Feds will be for a while but how things go is something you will just have to read for yourself.

Worker72: You are assuming there will be any First Ones left at the end of this story? As for the story arc, it has only just begun. But I disagree with your analysis of Kosh, I think he does care which would make him rather unique as far as Vorlons go.

grayangle: The same means, the same goals. So what exactly separates the Shadows and the Vorlons? Philosophy.

Darthscrub: Well, I don't know about the geek part. Lets just say I am a Sci-Fi fan shall we? Logistics are indeed a problem, which is why they build DSB. I had thought of that long ago.

Albert-G: Kosh is someone that finds himself in a though spot. On the one hand, he agrees with his people in that Order is the way to go. But I do not believe he would support the wholesale slaughter of entire planets just to prove a point. We will see what he decides.

I would further like to thank the above readers as well as Jerry Unipeg, EvilClone, bigstu, Foxstar2k2 and ariel stormcloud for their positive reviews.

**The meeting of Giants, second week of the Shadow War**

"He belonged to that army known as invincible in peace, invisible in war"

William Tecumseh Sherman

**Deep Space Babylon, EAS _Churchill_**  
Work on her ship was finally done and they were now in the final preparations before the first official launch as the rebuilt EAS _Churchill_. They had worked hard to get the ship ready and it looked beautiful. The bridge design had take on some Starfleet characteristics but at least the controls had been configured to good old Earthforce standard. On the outside the ship looked a bit sleeker too and its dark color had been replaced by a dull gray tone.

They would still do a bit of testing to see if everything worked and to impress the ambassadors and EA spies. After that it was off to do their part for the cause. Her memory stood still again at that briefing she had with Captain Sheridan three hours ago.

"Captain, as you know the Centauri are still fighting to gain control over the Vega system. In Earth Alliance's hands they can't advance deeper into our territory without risking their supply lines. So far, Earthforce has managed to hold them off with the help of their Shadow Omegas. We want you to take the Churchill to the area and help defend Earth in any small way that you can. I also want you to try to help anyone who wants to switch to our side. Since the war with the Centauri started, most EarthForce personnel decided that they needed to stay and defend Earth.

"We also want you to keep an eye on those Shadow Omegas, we need to know how many there are and what they can do. The information the Odyssey got was incomplete and even those enhanced Omegas must be suffering casualties."

"_Is that all?" she had asked._

"_No, the Odyssey left a probe in the system and we have been able to intercept communications for a few days now. Apparently, Earthforce isn't the only one that has gotten his hands on Shadow technology." Sheridan showed her a picture, filled with static, showing a planet with a blurry silhouette passing in front of it. The next picture showed a digitally enhanced image of that silhouette. It clearly showed a Centauri fighter, but it had a jet-black skin and it seemed to have thick, short protrusions beside the cockpit. It proclaimed clearly to the galaxy where this fighter had gotten its upgrade from. _

"_Apparently they have lost several ships in the last few days, all were in areas where the Centauri hadn't gotten yet. Or so they thought until one ship managed to send this image before it got destroyed. That fighter must have come from a carrier nearby and I want you to find this ship, determine what it can do and, if possible, destroy it. Hopefully that will slow down any program the Centauri have for fitting their ships with Shadow technology. Any questions?"_

"_Yes, what do the Starfleeters think about us using the technology they gave to fight the Centauri?"_

"_The Centauri haven't made themselves very popular with them, so that won't be a problem. They trust we will be responsible with their technology and I trust you will be too." _

"_I won't let you down, Captain."_

Her first officer pulled her out of her reverie. "Captain, all stations report ready and the station's CnC has cleared us for launch. At your command, she can stretch her legs again."

"Excellent." She looked around the bridge one more time before giving the command. Not everybody onboard was EarthForce, they had about 30 people on loan from Starfleet to help out. They were here to help with maintaining the equipment they helped install, as well as to operate the shield, which was only on loan. They didn't have enough trained Earthforce personnel to fill all the positions anyway, and as a bonus the _Churchill_ was now carrying two Federation shuttles. "Take us out, mister McDonnell."

"Aye, Captain. Com, request DSB to release docking clamps. Helm, take us out at one quarter engine power." The ship now moved towards the opening doors and then into the night of space. On Babylon 5, ambassadors and other interested people watched as the latest project the rebels had undertaken with the Federation was revealed. Many had seen the ship when she was being worked on outside of the station. But seeing the _Churchill_ now, flying under its own power was something else.

Gone was the cumbersome and quaint spinning midsection. Instead, a much sleeker and lighter colored ship flew there. Captain Hiroshi released a breath she hadn't noticed she'd been holding and began issuing orders. "Now that we have cleared dock without incident, time to get moving. Get us underway, Commander McDonnell."

"Aye, Captain. Helm, change direction to 267 mark 10 and go full burn." The officer at the helm tapped in the commands and the ship accelerated on her new heading. Observers saw it accelerate at a rate that should have crushed the crew. McDonnell waited before issuing the order to jump to hyperspace until Babylon 5 had cleared them. "Activate jump engines and lay in a course for the Vega system."

**Earth, Earth Dome**  
General Fontaine was getting an ulcer. First it was the rebels, then the Federation and now the Centauri had commenced with open warfare against Earth Alliance. And to make things worse, it seemed as if the Federation was going to meddle in the war with the Centauri too. But on whose side, remained the question. The Centauri had attacked them but Starfleet wasn't exactly on good terms with Earth Alliance, either.

The next issue had cropped up two days ago. They had begun loosing ships behind the lines, almost immediately after the Centauri attacked. They couldn't figure out how the Centauri managed to get behind their lines, but this picture at least told them a few things. It looked as if the Centauri had gotten their hands on the same technology as EarthForce had. He didn't know where exactly EarthForce had gotten the technology, but this meant that there was either a leak or the Centauri had found the same planet that they had gotten the tech from.

So far their new Omega's and modified fighters were the great equalizers, which were the only things keeping the Vega system from the Centauri. They had attacked three times so far, and there had been numerous probing attacks but they hadn't gotten a foothold yet. But they couldn't afford this exchange rate much longer. EarthForce lost three ships for every Centauri ship destroyed. Only the fighters killed more of the enemy than they lost, but they were useless if there weren't any ships to carry them to the battlefield.

The modified Hyperions on the other hand were a bust. They inevitably blew up after firing their main weapon a few times. They were too vulnerable to fighters and the main gun took minutes to recharge. Their crews called them "Mobile Incinerators" and they weren't talking about what it did to the enemy. But the President insisted on them, because when they worked even a Primus would be destroyed in one shot. So the General had made certain that no good people would be wasted on those ships, they were crewed by people that EarthForce could afford to loose.

VVVVV

The general wasn't the only one looking at the picture of the modified Centauri fighter. In his office, a furious Earth Alliance President was doing the same. The picture had been part of the daily update he demanded from the military. He couldn't trust them to do this right so he had to be on top of this. His survival depended on it!

He could barely hide his shock when they showed him the image. He knew there was no way the Centauri could have found their own Shadow ship and understood the science behind it. They had to have had help, and that could only mean they had help from Mr. Morden. They had betrayed him. For that he would make them pay, he would make them all pay…

**USS _Thunderchild_, Bahe**  
They had come as soon as they could, but they already knew it was too late when they came back into normal space. On the viewscreen they could all see the dead world that was once the home of millions of lifeforms, sentient and other. "Move us into a standard orbit around the planet and perform a scan of the planet. I want to know what has happened and if there are any survivors," ordered captain Turol. Captain Turol waited patiently as the ship glided towards the planet while the sensor readings were being analyzed.

They had been asked to help after all contact was lost with the colony. Only en route did they learn that the Shadows had appeared in the system but they had already determined that they had left the system before jumping, themselves. It looked as if the situation had escalated once again.

It didn't take long for her Ops officer to interpret the scans. "I am not detecting any lifesigns on the planet Captain. They're all dead."

"But there were 25 million people on that planet!" exclaimed L'Rrran.

Her Caitian first officer was still prone to emotional outbursts like that, but she had learned to live with them. "Most unfortunate, what have you found about the method used? Was this done by the Shadows?"

"You can see the craters on the viewscreen, there are hundreds of them spread over the planet's surface. They mark the entry points of some kind of devices that tunneled their way to close to the planet's core. Afterwards they detonated causing massive tectonic stresses on the planet as well as a significant drop in the core's temperature. The planet is too cold to support life anymore, but that is not all."

"It does not explain what froze the oceans on the planet," said the captain.

"How do you mean, ma'am?" asked L'Rrran. "If they cooled down the planet, the oceans would freeze too."

"True, but if that were the cause, there wouldn't be any impacts visible on the ice. Therefore, another mechanism was used to freeze the water." She now directed her question to her Ops officer. "Any evidence as to what that was?"

"No, Captain."

"Very well, inform the Abbai government what has happened here and send a report to Deep Space Babylon. Begin scanning for survivors elsewhere in the system."

**EAS _Churchill_**  
At the moment they were shadowing an Earth Alliance convoy through normal space. Normally, they wouldn't be able to get so close but the Federation shield operator had informed her that the shield could be reconfigured to mask their signature. Captain Hiroshi was pleasantly surprised to hear that the shield had more uses than simple defense.

They had hoped that by following the smaller convoys they would let their prey come to them and they got a chance to see how Earth was doing. It turned out that they were still holding on to Vega, but the ghost ship seemed to play havoc on their supply lines, drawing away much needed ships and fighters from the front lines to protect the convoys from attacks. So far however, they hadn't found this mysterious ship yet and they were nearing the jumpgate that would take this convoy to safer space.

It was then that her scanner officer alerted her to trouble. "Captain, I think you should see this." Hiroshi just gave a nod and the main viewer now displayed an overview of local space. Eight small dots were being highlighted and Sandra noticed that there seemed to be another dot following the convoy in the same way her ship was doing, but the distance between them was getting smaller. "Those smaller dots are on an trajectory that will intersect the convoy's path five minutes before they reach the gate. The reason they are suspicious is that the subspace scanner is picking up a faint bio-reading from each object that resembles that of a shadow fighter."

They had them! "What about the larger object?"

"Can't tell much, gravimetric distortions are interfering with the sensors. If we still had our old EarthForce sensors we wouldn't even see it or the fighters."

Hiroshi's first instinct was to warn the convoy, but would they believe her? And even if she did warn them, they still couldn't spot them so they would have to share their sensors with them or act alone. Her thoughts were cut short when her scanner officer gave another warning.

"Captain, she just spotted us!"

Centauri Prime, the Imperial palace 

To say that emperor Cartagia was a happy man would be a serious misinterpretation of the situation. One that none of the admirals present would make has the emperor raved at them. "They vex us! The humans vex us. Thrice our fleet has attacked their defenses and thrice they were stopped. How can these simple barbarians stand up against my will?"

One of the admirals took it upon him to answer. "Your Majesty, EarthForce possesses a new type of ship that is far more powerful than what we thought they would have."

"Are you telling me that six ships are all that it takes to stop the might of the Centauri lion? We have already destroyed four of them. Do not come to me with such feeble excuses for what is obviously your incompetence. I have already announced the capture of Vega, neither you nor the humans will cast doubt upon my word. If the next attack fails, I will not be so merciful as I have been before." With that, Cartagia left surrounded by his guards.

The admirals bowed even as Cartagia turned his back on them. Each of them glanced worried at the others, the Emperor had already beheaded one of them after every failed attempt at capturing Vega.

**CRS _Oriovax_**  
For centuries the Centauri had been satisfied with the ships they had, thinking they had no need for new design although they did improve on what they had. But with arrival of the humans and their stellar performance in the Dilgar war the Centauri began to reconsider. In the Dilgar war, the Humans had made extensive use of fighters and the then-emperor ordered House Orioni to design and build a carrier.

The result was presented to his successor a decade later, but he was not interested in reviving the military glory of the old Republic and so only this prototype stayed in service. Then, Cartagia became emperor and soon after, House Orioni asked to make improvements to the _Oriovax_. They finished the modifications soon enough to include the ship in the attack on the EA.

Lord Ari surveyed the bridge as he waited for the trap to close. His crew was waiting diligently as their fighters were almost in position. On his right he saw that the stealth field was holding, the Humans wouldn't know what hit them. He didn't know where House Orioni got this new technology but it certainly worked. The forty fighters that she carried had also been upgraded with similar technology.

He was about to give the signal when his sensor operator gave him unwelcome news. "My lord, sensors have picked up a metallic object 25.000 kilicams off port on a trajectory parallel to the convoy. Mass and length is about the same as that of an Omega

"What? How could they have gotten so close without us detecting them?"

"I do not know, I am only getting partial readings from the object. It is changing course, sir."

"Send the signal to the fighters and change course to intercept our mysterious shadow."

**EAS _Churchill_**  
She had underestimated them and now she was paying the price for it. She had assumed that the Centauri ship wouldn't be able to detect her ship and now it had, limiting her options. "Change our heading to 67 mark 345 and launch two squadrons. Tell them to protect the convoy. Prepare for battle." Around her the silence was broken as orders were relayed and the crew prepared for a fight.

The ship quickly changed its direction and was now moving towards the enemy while its crew reconfigured the shields, polarized the hull plating, and activated the weapons systems. These actions did not go unnoticed by the Earth Alliance ships in the convoy, as the space around them suddenly became very active with energy signatures. An unidentified ship had just appeared behind them, but what was worse were the 8 fighters that were now swiftly moving towards them from their starboard bow.

Before they had the chance to react, the black crescent shaped fighters opened fire on the two Olympus corvettes assigned to escort the supply ships. They were hit hard, both lost their bridge and one even lost engine power and began to drift. The fighters now broke up in teams of two and went after what remained of the escort. Four Sentri fighters went after the damaged corvettes and started pounding on their lightly armed hulls while the ships tried their best to hold the nimble fighters off.

The other four went after the sole Hyperion that had also been assigned to the convoy, which was only now reacting to the sudden attack. Attacked from two directions, it tried to destroy the tiny things with its pulse cannons but the Shadow armour made it difficult to get a solid lock. The hangar door on the ship opened up as they prepared to launch their own fighters but the Centauri were already upon them.

Firing directly into the now open hangar they destroyed the Earth fighters before they could even leave the ship, damaging the hangar bay. The resulting explosions rocked the ship, even the captain could feel it. By now the corvettes were dead in space and the fighters had begun to take out the civilian ships. The captain of the _Lexington_ expected to suffer the same fate soon as they lost another pulse cannon.

VVVVV

She had sent her fighters to help the convoy and was now racing to meet this new Centauri ship. With active sensors they probed ahead to get a better picture of what they were facing, but a good lock was still difficult. On the viewscreen she could see the hazy outline of the ship, its exact appearance masked by that damned stealth field.

**CRS _Oriovax  
_**"It seems to be a modified Omega destroyer, I cannot discern more due to an energy field surrounding the ship. It has launched fighters that are moving rapidly to intercept our own." Lord Ari contemplated the information from his sensor operator before issuing his own orders. "Inform our fighters of the incoming foes and prepare to fire the ion cannons as soon as they come in range."

He didn't have to wait long and his ship opened fire with its twenty-four cannons at the Earth ship. As he watched the first bolts traverse the distance between the two ships he tried to remember where he had heard the name _Churchill_ before. Then, the bolts hit the EarthForce ship and Lord Ari realized why the name sounded so familiar and why the ship had managed to sneak up on them.

The bolts hit some kind of energy shield and that could only mean that it was a rebel EarthForce ship modified by those Federationists. He had heard about how one of their ships had taken out an entire fleet of Centauri ships, it seemed his hunting days in this part of space were over.

**EAS _Churchill_**  
As the first plasma bolts hit the shields, she felt the ship tremble slightly. The Vulcan operating the shields at this time informed them of their effect. "Shields down to 75 percent, 69 percent and falling. At the current rate, our shields will be down in two minutes."

"Then we better do something about that. Open fire, mister McDonnell." The _Churchill_ now began to return fire with its phase cannons but the first one missed. The second beam hit a spine that jutted out from the main hull of the vessel, causing small pieces of debris to fly into space. The beams after that began to land on the hull itself, causing gashes to appear in the armor, diminishing the stealth field that hindered the _Churchill's_ aim.

Then, the black craft stopped firing it's ion cannons but instead powered up another weapon. Two purple beams shot out and hit the ship, the battered shields only managed to stop a part of their energy. The rest impacted the hull but didn't punch through.

"What was that?" asked Hiroshi.

"It seems to be a weaker form of the weapon used by Shadow ships. It has overloaded the shields, armour integrity is down to 84 percent."

"We finish this now. Keep firing, load tubes 1 and 2 and prepare to fire missiles."

**CRS _Oriovax  
_**Smoke filled his bridge as men shouted at each other as they struggled to keep the ship in the fight. When that infernal ship had begun to hit his ion cannons lord Ari had decided to switch to the main guns. Unfortunately, they took a large amount of power, so for the next few minutes they wouldn't have any weapons available and the Earth ship was still intact. In fact, it seemed to have suffered no damage at all.

He couldn't allow this ship to be destroyed and he had already lost those eight fighters that had put up a brief struggle against what obviously were modified fighters. Only one option remained. "Open up a jumppoint now! We are leaving."

The ship quickly turned away from the _Churchill_ and moved into the swirling vortex when the destroyer fired two missiles that now streaked towards the black monstrosity.

**EAS _Lexington_**  
Captain Burns was thanking the Lord at the moment that his ship was still intact. On the monitor he had watched how the _Churchill_ fought it out with a ship that seemed to be a cross between a Centauri ship and a nightmare. He didn't want to know where the Centauri got their inspiration for that design. He was even more relieved when those Centauri fighters ignored his ship and went after the fighters launched by the rebel EarthForce ship.

He had realized what it was when it had turned away from the _Lexington_, showing its name as well as some design features that gave away this had once been an Omega destroyer. But it wasn't anymore judging from the energy readings they had picked up. Its fighters had made light work of the dark Sentri's and the _Churchill_ had sent the black ship packing. Whether she had destroyed the ship remained a question as the jumppoint collapsed before they could see the missiles impact the ship but there was a big explosion.

Which now left Burns with a dilemma. On the one hand, they had saved him and the ships entrusted to his care. On the other, there were standing orders concerning these rebels. "Contact the _Churchill_, I want to talk to her captain."

He didn't have to wait long before he had Captain Hiroshi on the screen. The bridge looked a bit different too and he could see a Federation officer working in the background. "Well let me start by thanking you for the rescue Captain. I don't think we would have survived without your timely arrival. It was quite convenient of you to be here when they attacked."

Hiroshi smiled. "Just luck, and you're welcome."

Burns looked pointedly at her. "You have an interesting ship there. I don't suppose you would be so kind as to accompany us to our destination and take an extended vacation there?" While they were talking, Burns noticed that the fighters were returning to the _Churchill_.

"I am afraid our schedule doesn't allow that, but our sensors aren't picking up any hostile ships nearby so you should be fine. But I can offer you a lift to Babylon 5?"

Now Burns smiled apologetically. "I am a loyal officer of EarthForce and I have been ordered to escort these ships to their destination. Not to mention that I have to pick up whatever survivors there are from the destroyed ships. So this is where our ways part, a good day to you captain."

"And to you." Answered Hiroshi before the channel was cut. With that the _Churchill _turned around and disappeared into a jumppoint.

"Shouldn't we have tried to stop her from leaving, sir? We have orders to detain or destroy any rebel ships we encounter." Asked his first officer.

"With what? I doubt we could take on that ship even if we had some functional weaponry. No, we better report to command as soon as possible. We have to inform them that the Centauri have some new toys."

**USS _Salvador_, hyperspace  
**They had done their best to be there when the Drakh attacked but they couldn't be everywhere at the same time and so they had to let a few of their attacks go unopposed. The Drazi and the Brakiri were doing their best but they just didn't have the resources to fight this kind of an enemy. So Captain Santowitz had come up with this idea.

The Drakh had to have a staging area, some place to resupply their ships, build new ones and gather enough ships for an attack. They had already looked for one in normal space but hadn't found anything so now they were cruising what the locals called 'deep' hyperspace. It was a region of hyperspace that wasn't used by most ships because they lacked the sensors to navigate through it.

They hadn't found anything in the three days they had been looking until they got a distress call that was cut off before they could tell who was attacking them. It took them hours to reach the system in sector 70 and when they got there, nothing remained. The planet had been bombarded, only a few survivors remained. They had informed the Brakiri of the situation and then took of again in search of the perpetrators.

The weapons signatures were neither Drakh nor Shadow so they had to know who had done this. It wasn't long before they found something. "Captain, sensors picked up a hyperspace distortion field bearing 23-32. I cannot scan inside that area. It seems to be moving at 15 percent of light speed." His first officer informed him.

"Really? Would others be able to detect this distortion field?"

"No, sir. I am certain that EarthForce doesn't have the technology and neither do any of the other races as far as we can tell."

"An excellent way to hide your movements. Let's see what is behind door number 1. Helm, change course to 23-32 and slow down to one quarter impulse once we have reached the edge of the field."

For the next couple of minutes the bridge was quiet as everyone waited to see what was behind the field. Then, the _Salvador _breached what looked like a veil of energy and they could suddenly see ships, a fleet of them. Maldon immediately began to analyze the sensor readings and informed his captain of his findings. "The ships are all organic, I am detecting several thousand ships. They are definitely Vorlon. The fleet seems to be centered around one ship that is far bigger than the rest."

But his report was cut short by events. A blinking symbol on his counsel alerted him. "Captain, they just spotted us. Two light cruisers have just reversed course and are now moving towards us, they are powering up their weapons."

Santowitz didn't waste time. "Reverse course, full impulse. Prepare to go to warp as soon as we have left the distortion field. Deploy armour." Moments later the Vorlon ships began to fire on the Federation ship doing minimal damage. Maldon was already turning his chair to ask if they should return fire when they left the field and Ensign Teral engaged the warp engines, leaving their pursuers far behind.

"I am guessing from that little display that the Vorlons didn't like us seeing that. Did your scans reveal any reason for that behavior Maldon?"

"No, Captain. However, my analysis of the Vorlon weapons fire did reveal some interesting things. Sir, their energy signature matched the one we found on the planet in sector 70."

TBC


	28. A day in hell

Author's notes: Things are going to get interesting but before that happens I wanted to this chapter. I wanted to show the human side of war and I hope I have been successful in that. I would like to thank my betareaders once more for being so much faster then me and spotting more mistakes then I thought I had made.

And now for your questions:

Agent-G: What Kosh does, you will see in the next chapter.

EvilClone: I get my information from a few sources but the map of B5 I found simply by typing Babylon 5 map into google. Good luck with your story.

Worker72: It seems that the fate of the First Ones will come as a surprise to you then. Excellent! As for more Shadow-based Centauri ships, not right now but soon…

Someone: Calm down, this chapter was actually done when you wrote that review. Threatening me with bodily harm won't entice me to write more or faster. I said I would finish this story and I stick to that promise.

I would further like to thank the above readers as well as Jerry Unipeg, Lord Knight, X-Over, grayangle rankokunalpha1, Sati James andLucas43 for their positive reviews.

**A day in hell, week 2 of the Shadow war**

'It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.'  
-William Tecumseh Sherman

**EAS _Brandenburg_, Vega system**  
For two weeks now the Centauri had been at war with the Earth Alliance and the focal point of their assault was here, in the Vega system. After their initial assault that had devastated the defenses the enemy had attacked three times in an attempt to occupy the system. The Centauri had all been repelled, but now they were attacking once again. EarthForce kept loosing their hyperspace probes making it difficult to get a picture of where the Centauri were coming from.

In those three attacks they had shown to be remarkably consistent. Although never starting the assault from the same area, the Centauri fleet always left hyperspace on the outskirts of the system and then moved inwards towards the colony systematically taking out any makeshift defenses they found in their way. It had taken its toll on the ships defending Vega.

This time seemed no different. The Centauri fleet entered normal space through the jumppoints and proceeded to the colony with troop transports in tow. Quickly the defense fleet scrambled to face them, most ships looking uglier due to hasty repair jobs in open space. As the two fleets got closer, the EarthForce ships launched their fighters to spearhead the attack and gunnery crews prepared for the order to open fire.

One of them was Gunnery Sergeant Joey Lerner. Born in Jerome, Arizona, he had enlisted after finishing high school two years ago and was now in charge of operating one of the forward particle/laser cannons that helped defend his ship and Earth. Right now he was strapped in, waiting and watching. He noticed something odd; the Centauri hadn't launched their fighters and as he looked he saw the enemy ships decelerate.

He didn't have time to wonder what was happening because suddenly several jumppoints opened up right on top of the fleet. Out of each vortex came a Vorchan accompanied by several crescent shaped fighters, the Centauri warships began firing as soon as they had a target. Several Earthforce ships were destroyed by the jumppoints, others got hit by the Vorchans before their interceptors could begin to react. Other Vorchans missed the fleet and had to turn to begin their attack, loosing the element of surprise.

But the most spectacular mishap happened right in front of Lerner. A Hyperion in front of the _Brandenburg_ was barely missed by an opening jumppoint but the ship coming out of it couldn't decelerate fast enough and so it collided with the Earth ship. Explosions engulfed both unfortunate ships, but it was already clear there would be no survivors from those two vessels.

The Centauri fighters accompanying the ambushing Vorchans had also begun their attack, unopposed by the Thunderbolts who where still facing the first Centauri fleet although some of them had been recalled when the Centauri sprung their trap. The Sentri's weaved through the Earth fleet, doing as much damage as they could. The main Centauri fleet also accelerated again and began firing on the Earth Alliance ships as soon as they came into range.

The Earthforce ships returned fire as best as they could, including Sergeant Lerner. His first shot sheered of one of the ion cannons of a Primus, but the second one missed. As he was preparing to fire again, he missed what was happening not far from him. A Sentri fighter had chosen his station as it's next target and began its attack run. But before it could fire a pulse cannon clipped the frail fighter and instead of unleashing its weapons on the target, it careened into it producing a small explosion.

One moment he was preparing to fire the particle/laser cannon, the next thing he new the ship seemed to cave in around him as he was almost yanked out of his chair. Looking around he noticed that a lot seemed to be missing but the ship was still moving. He could tell because there was now a big hole on his right, through which he could look right into space.

If it weren't for his suit, he would be dead now. But it had protected him although the right side of it seemed to be scorched and his right side felt numb. Except for his right leg. Only now did Joey look down and he saw a beam had landed on legs. He was certain something like that should hurt, but he couldn't feel anything below the waist down. Before he could process what that exactly meant, his vision went black and he fell into darkness.

**2 hours later, in orbit of the Vega colony**  
Alle Diorte was clutching his pulse rifle while the ship around him shook as it began its entry into the atmosphere. As third son of a farmer he hadn't had many prospects back home so he had joined the Guardsmen. But luck wasn't with him, as only a few days after that he had been put on this ship on its way to some Human colony to participate in the attack. He barely knew how to fire his weapon and he didn't know what he could expect there.

Looking around he could see that not everybody seemed to feel his anxiety. Some were just staring into space, some were talking with each other. Two were even joking while the fellow on his left was busy throwing up, again. And some were checking their weapon, probably to make certain it would work. Then their commander spoke up.

"Listen up, we will be landing outside of the main city in five. Our ships are taking out their surface defenses as I speak; after we land you will take those positions and hold them until ordered otherwise. Any humans you encounter are to be shot. Anybody that tries to run away will be shot…." Before he could continue however a loud explosion rocked the ship, throwing the officer against the bulkhead. He wore a helmet but it was meant for show rather then protection, the blood that pooling beneath him was a good indication it hadn't helped.

But Alle was more concerned at the moment with his own life. Their was a howling noise coming from what Alle assumed to be the engines and the ship was still lurching although it seemed that the shuddering was lighter. Outside observers could have seen a Centauri troopship with smoke coming out of its engines going down slightly faster than was recommended.

When Diorte thought the worst was over, he was proven wrong. Suddenly he was almost thrown out of his chair despite the harness as he heard the hull scraping over what he assumed to be the ground. They were landing, or perhaps a better word would be a controlled crash. They had barely any time to pull themselves together again before something started to hit the hull.

Almost everybody understood they couldn't stay here and they frantically began to pull at their harness to get it off so they could escape this deathtrap. Some didn't move, too terrified to do so or perhaps they believed they were safer where they were. Meanwhile, Diorte had managed to finally get out of his chair, as had his neighbor. They were close to one of the hatches and his neighbor was the first to open one of the hatches and dash out.

He was also the first to die as multiple pulse bolts met him at the exit. One hit him in the face and the unnamed soldier fell out of the hatch without a sound. Alle might have been comforted by the fact that the pulse that had hit the soldier's face had cooked his brain and had killed him instantly, then again, maybe not. Diorte now leaped out of the hatch together with someone else.

He yelled all the way, screaming something while firing his rifle at the areas where he thought the enemy was. He kept this up until he saw a small rock on his path and he dived to it, taking shelter. As whatever had possessed him left, he looked at his fellow Guardsmen as they ran towards the human soldiers. Some, like him, were firing wildly and one even shot a Guardsmen in the back but he didn't seem to notice whom he had hit. He kept firing until a grenade blasted him into pieces.

Alle took a peek to see where the humans were and he saw them. They were hiding in a freshly dug, deep ditch with metal wiring in front of it. None of his fellow Guardsmen had reached the enemy yet and they were being mowed down by heavy pulse rifles. Then he saw another officer coming out the ship, bellowing to those that were hanging back to move forward. He even shot one that didn't comply immediately.

He couldn't stay here; he had to move on. He took a deep breath before swiftly rising to his feet again…

**Twelve hours later, 800 meters from where the troopship crashed at defense post Delta  
**She never should have joined the military. She had come to that conclusion several times a day ever since she had been posted on this rock. She had joined because she wanted to be a doctor and EarthForce would pay for her education. Back then she had never expected to be in a warzone and certainly not working on the ground in a makeshift hospital tent.

Everything was filthy. The ground outside had become muddy from the rain last night; the wounded kept coming in which meant that there wasn't any time to really clean anything. The screams she kept hearing in her sleep, when she actually got some sleep. One of the troopships had actually landed so close that some of their fire had reached the hospital. One moment she was talking to doctor Lecter, the next he slumped to the ground with half his face charred. She had never seen the bolt that had killed him.

Three hours later she overheard two wounded talking about that troopship. Apparently some marines had entered it after fighting of the Centauri. They had found some Centauri that had been shot in their seat and the only ones that had been there before were the Centauri themselves. 'Why the hell were they shooting their own men?'

Her hands were beginning to shake again, she could really use a stim right about now but another soldier was brought in. His upper leg and part of his head were bandaged up so she balled her hands for a moment and bent over the patient to examine him while inquiring what had happened to him. She could take a break later.

**Same time, near defense post Delta**  
The black crescent-shaped fighters were fast approaching their target. One of their troopships had carried some of these new fighters instead of soldiers and it had made it to the surface. The orbital bombardment their ships had delivered before leaving hadn't prevented the Humans from shooting several troopships out of the sky. But it was enough to allow the Guardsmen to overrun several defense posts which were now used as bases for the Centauri.

Too bad that the Royal fleet had to pull back again but at least they kept the Human fleet at bay and the humans had lost all of their surface based fighters by the bombardment. Their loss, thought Omal, as they prepared their attack run. They had determined that most of the EA injured were moved to this location because this was their backup medical facility. The main hospital was another victim of the bombardment.

Then they began their attack, their new organic armour hiding them from sensors as the clouds had hid them from prying eyes. The three black fighters dove towards the Human base, screaming like banshees. The marines were only slightly surprised by the attack, but when their SAMs failed to lock on they started to panic. Some worked furiously to try and get the missiles to work, others began to run away while a few tried to stop the oncoming fighters with their pulse rifles.

One Centauri fighter specifically targeted the tachyon communicator they used to keep in contact with the EA fleet elsewhere in the system and the orbital guns that were under repair. The second fighter made a strafing run on the northern defenses taking out the gate before going on to take out the shuttles parked next to a dirt strip used as a runway.

Omal himself chose the large tent with red on white cross on it. He knew that was the human sign for a medical facility, a very foolish action to let your enemy know where your wounded were treated. His blasts went straight through the flimsy fabric but it was set on fire by explosions inside of the hospital. Making a slight turn he continued on to fire on a missile launcher the Humans were trying to use. One of his plasma bolts missed and hit and somebody that was running away, vaporizing her arm and knocking her down.

The three had done what they came for and flew back up into the clouds. They still had other targets to hit before the push. 'Nothing beats flying', contemplated Omar. 'It was missions like these that really got his hearts pumping.'

TBC


	29. On the edge of a precipice

Author's notes: Back to the main story line this chapter which is getting advanced now quite a bit. I hope you will enjoy reading it as I had making it. I would like to thank my betareaders once more for being so much faster then me and spotting more mistakes then I thought I had made.

And now for your questions:

Agent-G: There will be closure of a sort in this chapter and upcoming ones. Only general comments and the rest I leave to your imagination.

Worker72: Exactly! I wanted to show that beneath those big metal monstrosities were people fighting and dying. Remind the reader that there are persons dying there, not mere numbers.

Oblivionknight7: I am thinking of giving them reinforcement of a sort. But then again, this is only the beginning.

I would further like to thank the above readers as well as Jerry Unipeg, X-Over, and Evilclone for their positive reviews.

** On the edge of a precipice, week 3 of the Shadow war**

"When great armies go to war, Sorrow is the sole winner."  
- Lao Tzu

**Babylon 5, Cargo Bay 26  
**Sheridan and Ivanova were inspecting G'Kar's latest contribution at the moment. Several rows of more then three long cases stretched the length of the bay. They stood still at one to get a closer look at the black cases that came up to their waistes. Ivanova now explained to Sheridan what they were looking at exactly. "G'Kar convinced the Gaim ambassador to transport these here. Each one of them, according to G'Kar, has a yield of five hundred megatons."

Sheridan whistled at that, one of those things could vaporize half the station. "If we can find out where the enemy attacks next, we can lay these out in advance and give them one hell of a wake up call." He now turned back to Ivanova. "But these weren't the only reason I wanted to talk to you."

Sheridan was now pacing back and forth as he spoke. "As you know, ISN has been telling lies about us ever since it got back in the air."

Susan nodded, a lot of people on the station were still watching it and some even believed it. "But what can we do about it? We can't prevent them from broadcasting and it would only make us look suspicious."

"True, so I want to fight them with words. We will start our own news channel to get out the truth. We can also use it to get the word out about that Shadow Planet Killer. We have a pretty good idea where it's going after its last attack."

Ivanova swallowed as she imagined what had happened. She had read the report from the _Thunderchild_. "So, it has been confirmed. Vicari was hit by the Shadows." Susan paused for a moment to think things over. "I can get something set up in a few days, but we won't have the power to broadcast outside this sector."

"I got that covered. I talked to Draal and he can provide us with more then enough power for that. But I don't want you to just set it up. I want you to present it."

"What?" exclaimed Ivanova wide-eyed.

"You would be perfect Susan," assured Sheridan her. "You have a face people trust."

"I'd rather have a face that people fear."

"That too, but will you do it?"

Ivanova mumbled a few words before replying loud enough for Sheridan to hear. "Fine", Ivanova grumbled, "I'll do it. Now if that was everything I will go back to CnC. I can't leave Corwin to run things there indefinitely. He isn't used to things going wrong as I am," she lamented. Sheridan half expected her to remind him once again that it was part of being Russian. He personally thought it was more a part of being Susan.

Sheridan confirmed that it was all he wanted to talk about. As Ivanova left she almost bumped into Kosh who ignored here even then. Sheridan was at a loss as to why the Vorlon ambassador wanted to speak to him, but it must be for a good reason. "Ambassador, what can I do for you?"

Kosh regarded him and then spoke through his translator. "I will be leaving, now. The circle has expanded."

Sheridan frowned, Kosh hadn't deemed it necessary in the past to tell anybody he was going away for a while. John got the feeling this was a farewell.

Kosh continued. "Use the third edge. Remember." And then he turned around and left, leaving a puzzled Sheridan behind.

**EAS _Churchill_, hyperspace  
**They had taken more of a beating then expected from that black ship, and they had taken two days to repair everything and check if everything was working properly. Although based on her old ship, Sandra wasn't about to take chances when so many changes had been made to the old girl. But it turned out that they just had to replace the three plates that had been hit by those two slicer beams and some minor repairs on the shield generators.

Impressive enough for her given what she had faced, but where the repairs were done was pretty impressive on itself. The subspace sensors allowed them to use the gravitation shadows of the planets, stars and other large bodies as navigational aids making it possible to travel off the beacons. So they spent the last two days in the Oort cloud of the system where they rescued an Earthforce convoy.

The Starfleet members of her crew took it in a stride, accustomed to getting anywhere they want to go using that strange stardrive of theirs but she herself was a little awed to be the first human to actually reach an Oort cloud. Sure, they had sent probes to them but they were too far from any jumpgate to make the slow trek through normal space with a manned vessel. Until now, of course.

But right now they were making the journey back to Babylon 5. The experimental vessel hadn't shown up again and the Centauri seemed to be concentrating completely on the Vega system. It would be rather difficult to help Earth in that area without risking getting shot at by the people they were trying to help. No, this test run was over. A beep on her right caused her to turn. The sensor operator was already opening his mouth to inform his captain.

"A ship is coming towards us, vector 240 by 160. It has identified itself as the USS _Odyssey_, sensors confirm it."

Peter! She was glad to see him again but things had been a bit strained on their last date. She wanted to know more about where he grew up but he clamped up. Didn't he trust her by now she wondered? "Hail them", she ordered.

Soon she was looking at the bridge of the other ship, but no Walker in sight. Instead a smiling Thalev greeted her. "Greetings, Captain Hiroshi. Can we offer you a ride back to the station?" He seemed to be in on some joke.

"That would be appreciated." She hesitated for a moment, then asked. "Where is Captain Walker? I hope he hasn't bitten off more then he can chew?"

Thalev's smile grew a little wider. "No more than usual ma'am. Captain Walker has gone ahead to meet you, should he go to your ship or will you be joining us for the evening?"

"I am looking forward to some real food actually so your ship it is." The only design flaw on this ship now was the lack of replicators. Maybe she could twist their arm for one, arguing that the Starfleet section of her crew just didn't perform well on Earthforce rations? She turned her head to address McDonnell. "You have the bridge for tonight."

Thalev barely waited for the commander's nod. "Very well Captain, stand by for transport!"

Every one on the bridge looked up at that comment, both Earthforce as well as Starfleet personnel. But before Hiroshi could ask what he was talking about a glimmering light washed over her and then she was gone. Her alarmed first officer whirled to face the still smiling Andorian, but Thalev already offered him an explanation. "Transport completed. She is aboard, safe and sound Commander."

"What in blazes was that?" His Scottish accent became noticeable, something that only happened when he forgot himself.

"A transporter," offered Commander Thalev, "we use it to transport people and cargo from one place to another. A lot more efficient than shuttles." Now he began issuing orders to his own bridge crew. "Helm, get us in front and above the _Churchill_. Standby tractor beam and prepare to extend the warp-field around both ships, warp point six. We don't want to overtax the engines."

Thalev's thoughts now turned inward as he remembered some of the stupid stunts he had pulled while courting his wife. They only convinced her that he desperately needed someone to keep his head on his shoulders and so they got married. She had tried to play matchmaker for Peter but all her attempts had failed so far. He wondered how Tallai and little Telev were doing right now, not knowing what had happened to him. Thalev shrugged those thoughts off, concentrating once again on the here and now as his orders had been carried out. "Engage."

VVV

The glimmering lights vanished, leaving Sandra on a platform in a room she recognized as Starfleet, a mischievously smiling Starfleet Captain standing in front of a console. Only a slight narrowing of her eyes told what she thought of that little surprise. Looking straight into his eyes she demanded, "Start explaining and you better make it good." She ignored the Ensign manning the console completely.

"That was a transporter, it's what we use to move cargo and people from one place to the other. We only use shuttles when we can't use the transporters for one reason or another." His smile now turned innocent, far too innocent. "I thought you wanted me to open up more, you know, share more secrets?"

Sandra sighed, shaking her head at the stunt but also in amazement. A bit too childish for a military officer but these Starfleeters seemed to be far too loose in general. But her curiosity was piqued. "How does it work?"

Walker's smile turned into a genuine one and he motioned for her to follow him out of the transporter room. She stepped off of the platform and walked beside him as he began explaining how her body had been taken apart on a subatomic level and then reintegrated again somewhere else. Now Sandra began to surreptitiously check if everything was still there but nothing seemed to be missing.

As they walked to the captain's private dining room, they talked about what had happened to each of them since they had last seen each other.

**Centauri Prime, Imperial Palace**  
Today was a good day. He had declared this day a day of celebration as the Humans had finally been thrown out of the Vega system. There was still some resistance here and there, but that would soon be taken care off. So now the citizens of the Republic celebrated, happy for any excuse to forget their troubles at least for a day. Or for a few hours.

But that was not the reason that Cartagia was looking out the window now. He had decided to wait with making the momentous announcement until tonight, but his subjects would soon see its heralds flying over. And there they came, gleaming black ships now flew over towards the island of Selini. Many of those that saw the ships did not feel like celebrating anymore as terror itself flew over them.

But the Emperor was blind to such things. He only saw the power in those ships and in their creators. A measly island for godhood, Morden's associates really didn't know how to bargain. And so Cartagia watched as Shadow ships came to Centauri Prime, grinning like a madman.

**USS _Odyssey_, Captain's dining room  
**The meal had been good, with a dish called macaroni ala Walker as the main course. Peter indicated it was a family recipe but she refrained from asking more about it, she didn't want to spoil dinner. So they kept to small talk, but also a few things about the Federation. She still couldn't believe neither he nor any one else on the ship got paid. He called it a "choice".

Both officers had draped their uniform jackets on their chairs to make themselves more comfortable. Conversation however, had died down as dinner came to an end. Peter seemed to be trying to figure out a way to say something, but couldn't decide how to start. Sandra decided to help him out. "You have been restless for the last ten minutes now, anything you want to tell me?"

Peter sighed and took the plunge. "You wanted to know more about where I came from, about my experiences growing up and I held off on that. It's not that I don't trust you, but it isn't just my secret. But after some deliberations with the others, we decided we should start opening up more. It is starting to look like we will be here for some time and our origins can't be hidden for that long."

Finally! Sandra now leaned on the table, eager to hear where they came from. It must be from very far away, she herself thought it might be the other side of the galaxy. Some even thought they were from the future, but she dismissed that as impossible.

"I was born in a small village in the Benelux…on Earth in the year 2344." Sandra just blinked, having a hard time getting her head around that revelation. "But I am not from the future, I'm from an alternate universe." And then he stopped talking, waiting for her response.

**Deep Space Babylon, Commander Hett's office**  
This wasn't the first time he had had this discussion with G'Kar, but the Narn kept trying and this time Hett felt he should give him a more detailed reasoning why he had refused it. "G'Kar, I do feel for your people. But we cannot give you weapons technology." He cut him off before G'Kar could come with the suggestion that they only share what they had shared with the rebels.

"Besides the fact that at the moment Narn is occupied, making this an internal Centauri affair which we cannot meddle in, there is something else." The Commander paused, he liked G'Kar and he didn't want to offend him. But he shared this concern with the others and he wanted to know how a Narn saw this.

"The Centauri didn't start the war that cost your people their freedom for the second time, your people did because they wanted to make the Centauri pay for occupying Narn. So, now we give you the technology you need to free your homeworld and then what? Will you focus on rebuilding or will your people take this opportunity to exact revenge. To make the Centauri bleed?"

G'Kar wanted to deny this, assure them that he wouldn't let something like that happen. But he couldn't give such a guarantee. He himself wanted the Centauri to pay. So he asked a question instead. "But what of your people? The Centauri have attacked you as well, killed some of you because they coveted your technology. Don't you want to make them pay for what they did to your people?"

"G'Kar, the _Salvador_ took the lives of thousands of Centauri when they couldn't outrun them. I don't believe that the life of a Federation citizen is worth more than that of a Centauri. If anybody has a 'right' to make some one pay, it would be the Centauri and not us."

"You do not strike me as a man that would 'turn the other cheek' as the humans say." Hett had to smile at that. "Who said I was? I am only saying that someone has to stop the circle of payback. Because in the end, it just leaves you with nothing."

**Babylon 5, Observation Dome**  
Sometimes Sheridan wished things would slow down for just a day so he could catch up. It seemed he was always doing something or racing somewhere to meet someone these days. Now it was Delenn who had urgent business to discuss with him and she had requested him to come here. When he arrived he saw her with her back turned to him, admiring the stars and the busy traffic consisting of ships of dozens of races.

It was always good to see Delenn again, it made the weight on his shoulders seem lighter. "You wanted to talk to me?"

Delenn turned, a gentle smile on her face. "I wanted to show you something," she corrected him. And then turned towards the window again. Sheridan stepped into the room looking around uncertainly. "And what would that be?"

"As you know, the White Star was never intended to be one of a kind. It was only the first. Alas, the Drakh managed to delay completion of the first wave but they are finished now." And as if on cue, several jumppoints opened up now and out came streams of ships. All looked exactly like the White Star.

"They are all crewed by the Rangers and most are now here. Some of them stayed behind to help fight the Drakh that are attacking my people, but these will be under our shared command. With them we now have a fighting chance as you say. We can use them to help shore up the defenses of the other races and to finally make a counterattack."

For a moment, he grasped for words. "I don't know what to say."

Delenn touched his cheek and they both look into each other's eyes. "Then say nothing." And under the stars, they kissed.

But because they didn't look out the window they missed the arrival of the _Salvador_, hardly slowing down after exiting hyperspace. After the kiss however Delenn's face clouded with worry. "What's wrong?" Sheridan asked.

"I believe I will have to go back to Minbar soon," Delenn started. "Ever since I broke the council, tensions have risen among the castes. This war with the servants of the Shadows has not resolved this, only delayed them. And I fear the Starfleeters have only added to this. Many in the religious caste feel uneasy about how advanced they seem to be. The Worker caste on the other hand seems to get along with them quite well, especially after their help at the shipyards. As for the Warrior caste, they are worried about humans getting their hands on such advanced technology. But they are focussed on the Drakh at the moment so that gives me some time." Delenn frowned as she weighed her options.

But looked up again when John placed his hands on her shoulders. "Whatever you decide, you know I….

At that moment his link interrupted him. Sheridan sighed, half-contemplating throwing it away before answering the call. It was Ivanova.

"The _Salvador_ just arrived with news you are not going to believe. Arkata 7 was destroyed, by the Vorlons." Both leaders now looked at each other in bewilderment, unwilling to believe that the Vorlons would do such a thing.

**USS _Odyssey_, Nine Aft  
**Sandra Hiroshi was staring out a window at the swirl of hyperspace. Around her the crew of the _Odyssey_ relaxed and talked to each other about a myriad of things. It all looked so normal, thought Hiroshi. But this ship, these people were even more alien then the Shadows. Sure, hyperspace was another dimension too but it was also lifeless.

But they came from a parallel dimension that seemingly had few things in common with her own. In the back of her head she had always wondered what the two of them would do if Peter ever found a way back home. It would have been an extremely long-distance relationship but how does one overcome a dimensional barrier?

Worse, it could be quite possible that these extradimensionals couldn't stay here for some reason or another. And then what?

So, after that confession by Peter she had just walked out mumbling she needed to think. After wandering through the ship she had found herself here, staring at the turmoil of hyperspace that reflected the turmoil within her mind. She barely sensed someone sitting down nearby, but reacted when she recognized the voice.

"You didn't take it as well as I had thought," said Thalev. "The staff of Babylon 5 was skeptical of our claim but they weren't as shocked as you seem to be." Hiroshi however wasn't willing to talk about such personal things to someone she barely knew, friend of Peter or not. So she changed the focus of the discussion. "You seem to take it well. I mean, you are awfully far from home among a crew of mostly aliens. What's your secret?"

"Every night, in my quarters, I scream for half an hour," he deadpanned. But he couldn't keep his face straight. Neither could Hiroshi when she realized he wasn't being serious. She commented, "Commander, shouldn't you behave a bit more dignified in front of the crew?"

Thalev looked surprised. "This is Nine Aft." He gestured at the nearest door. "We leave rank at the door Ms. Hiroshi." Sandra looked surprised. "How do you people keep even the most elementary discipline?" she exclaimed.

He tried to explain. "It's not that big a problem. The crew knows what conduct we expect from them, if they feel they can no longer meet those requirements then they are free to leave. You must remember that Starfleet is not a military organization even though we are expected to defend the Federation when needed."

Hiroshi had to shake her head at that. "How on Earth did your Federation survive until now without a proper military?"

He got a little defensive. "The Federation has survived for over 200 years against threats far worse than the Shadows. Believe me miss, you don't want to stumble upon some of our enemies." Then he changed the subject. "I was supposed to have the bridge this shift, you know? But the Captain relieved me a little while ago."

He continued, looking out at the red chaos of hyperspace. "My wife has set him up with quite a few ladies but that never worked out." He now looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "You're a little stiff but who am I to criticize his taste in women?" He now stood up and looked directly at her while she still mulled over that last comment. "If you have a problem with him, you won't solve it without him. A good day." And he walked away.

Leaving Hiroshi alone with her thoughts again, and hyperspace itself.

**Babylon 5, Lyta's quarters**  
She was alone in her quarters, sitting on the bed and staring numbly at the wall as she asked herself the same question over and over. How could she have missed it? They had asked her whether she knew anything about the Vorlon Planet Killer but she had been as stunned by its very existence as everybody else. However, it did explain why Kosh left in such a hurry.

She had met Kosh right before he was to board his ship. At the time she thought it was simply another one of his trips he made from time to time, but his answer to her question made it clear that this was farewell. She had asked if he had any assignments for her while he was gone.

_His iris had narrowed in thought, before dilating again as he answered. The translator seemed to convey a hint of sorrow in his voice. "No. Our paths are now separate, the song has been seen. Aid the One, if you choose. We will not see each other again, this circle." And with that he had walked away._

She had been puzzled as always by his comments. But after hearing the news from the Federation ship, she felt used. She had let them modify her and had carried Kosh around. But they had already changed her when she was conceived and they had never told her what they were really planning. She had believed in them, she had believed in Kosh. And she still couldn't believe that Kosh would condone such a thing. Destroying whole words, it was nothing less then mass-genocide.

She was pulled out of her reverie when her door chimed. She could already sense who was at the door and was curious why Zack was here. So she went to it and opened it. At the other side stood a nervous Zack. "Ehm, hi. I heard about what happened and I thought you might want some company? Grab a cup of coffee if you want. I mean, I can understand if you would rather be alone, it's taken us all by surprise." He only waited a moment for her to answer. "You would rather not mingle now, with everything going on. Sorry, for asking."

She cut him off before he could babble further. "Actually, I think I could use a coffee. And some company." And with that she went past him and started walking down the hall. "Come on, your buying." This brought Zack out of his stunned silence, he couldn't believe his luck. He hurried to catch up to her.

**Babylon 5, Council chamber  
**With the representatives of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds assembled, Delenn now began this latest meeting. "This council is now in session. As you know, both the Vorlons and the Shadows have begun destroying entire worlds. So far they have incinerated at least seven worlds, killing more then two billion sentient beings as far as we know." The diplomats reacted with shock, they had not known the death toll. "It seems that the Vorlons have split their fleet, sending each Planet Killer on its own course. One of these will cross paths with a Shadow fleet sometime next week."

"Their target there is a low-tech planet, home to several billion people. The Shadows forced them to allow a Shadow base on that planet and we believe this is the reason that the Vorlons want to destroy it." Delenn was still having difficulty with it, but they now had independent confirmation from a White Star that the Vorlons too were using Planet Killers.

Sheridan took over. "Right now Drakh attacks are low because of the losses they incurred. This gives us an opportunity to strike at their masters directly and stop this war before we loose another planet. I am asking you all for all the ships you can spare so we can make a stand against them. Make them understand that this has gone too far and that we won't let them do this."

The Gaim ambassador spoke first. She was using one of the new Federation translators, but had opted to use the same voice as her old one had. "Our ships cannot stand up against one of their Planet Killers. What do you have that could stop it?"

"I already have support from the Minbari, the Rangers and the Starfleet ships. Captain Walker has promised me that their ships can take care of their Planet Killers," Sheridan assured them. The last bit caused the ambassadors to talk amongst themselves yet again.

"We have all seen what those Starfleet ships can do Captain," the Drazi ambassador spoke up. "But taking away ships would weaken our defenses around our homeworlds. We cannot put the lives of others above our own citizens." Others murmured their agreement with that.

Sheridan himself looked around the room before responding. "Who among you believes your people could stand up against the Vorlons or the Shadows alone? This isn't about the Drakh, they only do what the Shadows tell them to do! We have to make a stand against their masters and the Vorlons now, together. Or we die separate."

VVV

An hour later the war council came back in, with only the Drazi ambassador present. Sheridan was already preparing himself for the bad news when the Drazi turned to him. He looked worried. "The others are still conferring with their government but I can speak for them. You will get all the ships that we can spare. I hope you are right, because it will cost us greatly if you are wrong."

**Babylon 5, somewhere in Yellow sector**  
Ensign Kov was slowly regaining consciousness. The last thing he could remember was walking alone through what was designated as Brown Sector. A group of humans had surrounded him and threatened him. Assuring the individuals that he had nothing of value on his person and that he knew how to defend himself had not stopped them. Indeed, it seemed that he had overestimated his ability to defend himself judging from his present situation.

Tied to a chair with bonds that proved to be adequate after he had tested their strength he now turned his attention to his surroundings. He could make out several people talking and also the soft hum of some kind of machine. The room he was in wasn't lit very well, but he could still make out several additional people in the shadows. But his awakening didn't go unnoticed.

"Hey boss! That alien is waking up." The man didn't raise his voice, but he did sounded exited. It turned out that his boss was a tall man with dirty blond hair and a hard glint in his eyes. He had been talking to somebody else in one of the areas of the room that too dark to see much but he immediately walked over to Kov when he heard the other man warn him.

"So, I heard you were kind'a cocky when my boys found you." The man now smiled, but his eyes got greedy. "Certain people would pay a lot to get their hands on you but your friends make that nearly impossible. So I will just have to ask their questions for them. You should start talking now, if you know what's good for you."

Kov raised his eyebrow at that. "I think not. You cannot do anything to make me divulge Federation secrets." It was a logical assumption that these people wanted to question him about Federation technology and other secrets. Apparently this group was planning to sell anything they learned. The man that had been called their 'boss' decided to punch him to reinforce his threat.

But while it caused some pain to Kov, the man himself now also cradled his hand. "Who says anything about us?" Slightly turning while maintaining eye contact with Kov he called out, "Alright, teep. It took me quite some trouble getting you through security. Get to work and start sniffing through his head. We don't know how long it will be before they alert security and I do not want Garibaldi on my case."

From the shadows a woman stepped forth, looking slightly angry at how she was called. "My superiors will compensate you quite handsomely for your help, Mr. Snow. Now stand aside." Then she grinned. "Unless there is anything you want to share with me of course." She slowly approached Kov, taking of her gloves as she went.

**Hyperspace, Vorlon light cruiser  
**As his ship glided back to what his people call home, Kosh Naranek had time to reflect on things past and what is yet to come. He had hoped it would not come to this, but now it had. He had feared that he would be dead by this time, but something had changed.

His people had decided on a course of action out of sheer fatigue. They had grown weary of the debate and simply wanted it concluded. He would not go against the wishes of his people, at least not directly. He had dropped his pebble into the pond, he was certain the young ones would choose the right path for growth.

**The Rim, unknown system**  
A dark wraith was moving through hyperspace, its mere image would inspire terror in the hearts of most races. Right now this living weapon was on the hunt for a clue to the Federation homeworld. They had been searching for it ever since one of their ships had bested four Shadow battlecrabs but so far they had found nothing to indicate were the elusive colony could be.

This young ship was one of several that was now searching in what the younger races called the Rim, an area that even the Shadows had ignored for some time now. It was here that their best chance of finding the United Federation of Planets lay. It now prepared itself to move back into normal space to begin scanning yet another system. Even the Shadows couldn't do a proper scan of normal space from the domain of hyperspace, it was simply impossible to do so.

The spider ship shimmered into normal space and began looking for signs of civilization. She found them only seconds after entering the system, the first results showed a sprawling industrial complex in what remained of this system's sole asteroid belt. Then the crew recognized the ships and architecture. Old memories came unbidden and for a moment the Shadow crew tried to deny reality.

It failed and now they scrambled to get away, trying to simultaneously warn the others about what they had stumbled upon. But the defenses in the system had already kicked in, jamming communications and preventing them from fleeing into hyperspace. Several Eyes moved out to take on the sole battlecrab that was now trying to fly out of the system in normal space. The crew hoped to get out of the jamming field that prevented their escape in order to relay their discovery.

The crew was hopeful as the hostile ships pursuing them could only match their speed, but were unable to overtake their vessel. As the spider-like vessel raced out of the system, it twisted around and fired a shot at the pursuing ships. Around each Eye a crimson energy field had sprung up when they had begun their pursuit. It wasn't a bubble like the Federation ships but faceted and made the ships look like they were encased in red crystals. The shield stopped the beam for a moment but then it winked out and the slicer beam went through the ship as if it was made out of tin foil.

With a triumphant scream the ship prepared to fire again. Then, in the direction they were flying, a brilliant ribbon of light erupted and from it came a single ship that was half the size of the Shadow warship. Before the battlecrab could react, the enemy ship fired a green beam from each pyramid crystal. The four beams came together in front of the ship and then hurried on as one beam towards the Shadow vessel. It slammed into the black armor. Green glowing cracks began appearing around the impact point. The black armor didn't protect the vessel and it broke apart, large pieces flying in every direction with a malignant green glow infecting the edge where each piece had come loose.

But rest did not return to the system, as they could no longer wait after being discovered. They had managed to stop the ship before it could warn the others but they would surely discover it missing. And that would bring more of their ships here. So, thousands of ships now flocked out of the massive shipyards towards several energy ribbons, plunging into them and moving to parts unknown. One thing was certain, there was no going back.

TBC


	30. All our dreams turned to ash

Author's notes: I started this story more then a year ago and I must admit that I thought I would be at this point in the story 6 months ago. But my writing improved and the chapters became somewhat longer. All in all, I am honored that you think my humble story is worthy of your time. Thank you all. I would also like to thank my betareaders once more for being so much faster then me and spotting more mistakes then I thought I had made. Without them, this story wouldn't be what it is becoming.

And now for your questions:

Agent-G: Hmm, close but no cigar as they say. And there will be no permanent links between universes, I will not change my mind on this.

X-Over: The term 'bitten off more then they can chew' comes to mind in that situation. You can read more about it in this chapter.

Worker72: Kosh cares about the younger races, even about individuals of said races. This is something that is becoming rare among the Vorlons these days but he will not betray his people. He simply disagrees with his people about the means but he agrees with them that Order is the way forward.

Albert-G: I don't butter up, I was just giving you a compliment. As for the Kov situation, more information can be found in this chapter.

ghost1776: Your right, I forgot about her. But I see her and any other fully human telepath as an anomaly. In Star Trek it is the rule that a race either has psychic abilities or it does not so as a rule the human race isn't telepathic with Miranda Jones and a few others as exemptions that prove this rule.

I would further like to thank the above readers as well as BGTom, The Sithspawn, oblivionknight7, Lucas43, grayangle, wargear and Evilclone for their positive reviews.

**All our dreams turned to ash, week 4 of the Shadow war**

'Dreams are today's answers to tomorrow's questions.'  
-Edgar Cayce

**Babylon 5, Somewhere in Yellow Sector  
**Her head felt like she had pounded it against a wall for an hour and in a way, she had. She hadn't intended on using physical contact at first. She just wanted to rattle him, but that stoic mind of his hadn't flinched since he had regained consciousness. She had tried to get through his defenses but had failed. She then tried it with her hands clasping his head. It didn't help her at all.

That alien had even tried to attack her. At least that is what she thought. His mind had touched hers and her defenses had just begun to melt. She only managed to back off just in time and she knew she was in way over her head. And she would take it out on the incompetents that had brought the Starfleeter in. "I thought I was clear that I didn't want a telepath?"

Mister Snow had just stopped by to see how things had gone and wasn't impressed by her progress so far. "You only said you didn't want one of those Betazoids. And since it seems to be impossible to tell them apart from normal humans, I just told my men to grab one of the alien Starfleeters. This one was the first they got their hands on, how were they supposed to know it was a telepath?"

The psicop now looked angry. "Well I am going nowhere fast with this one. Which means you won't get paid, Snow." Snow thought a few moments, then got a sneer on his face. "Then we will just have to soften him up. No food and a few days without sleep should do it. Too bad we don't know how resilient his species is, or we could have gotten more creative." And with that, he left. He had other things to do besides babysitting a teep.

**EAS _Agrippa_, hyperspace**  
General Fontaine hated being on this ship but it couldn't be helped. The president had sent him to take over from General Sundararajah after she had lost Vega. So now he was planning the retake of the system on this forsaken ship, but it was slow going as his mind kept fogging over. He hadn't had one undisturbed night of sleep since he stepped onboard this barge and by the looks of the crew, neither had anyone else.

"What is the situation of our ground forces in the colony?" Colonel Astrati replied, "A few pockets are still holding out. But they are almost out of supplies so I estimate that in two days the Centauri will have wiped out all organized resistance." Fontaine yawned before asking another question. Astrati had wisely chosen the Nova class _Thebes_ for his quarters. "Anybody else of us that is still there?"

Captain Smith took that question. "Three ships hiding out in the primary asteroid belt, sir. All three are Olympus corvettes that didn't make it out in time. We can't extract them without alerting the Centauri and they can't fight their way to the jumpgate. They used a relay probe to communicate with us but we haven't heard of them since the Centauri blew it up 6 hours ago. They were the ones that kept us informed about the state of our ground forces."

"Alright gentlemen, by order of the president we have to retake Vega as soon as possible. We will be getting more reinforcements in five days so our attack should be after that. I know that this gives the Centauri ample time to reinforce their position but our current forces are not up to the task at hand." Which was true, the _Agrippa_ had been the only Omega-X in the Vega fleet that wasn't destroyed and what remained of the rest of the fleet consisted out of two standard Omegas, five Novas, six Hyperions and about twelve corvettes. They had more fighters than their ships could accommodate so several wings were always on patrol. They would need more regular resupplying because of the increased fuel and atmospheric consumption this entailed.

The gathered officers around the plotting table didn't voice any objections. They knew the state their fleet was in and knew that the President wouldn't care about how unlikely success would be. They would have to do die trying or risk their families like Sundararajah.

**DSB, Commander Hett's office  
**Most of the time, Hett was a jovial Commander to the beings serving under him. But not now, as he was faced with the disappearance of one of his officers. "Tell me ensign, were you unaware of the standing order not to take shore leave on Babylon 5 alone?" His voice conveyed that he was most displeased with him and that he was barely containing his anger.

"No, sir. I was aware of that order." Replied ensign Mbatu. When Commander Hett started to look even angrier he knew that he better give a more detailed explanation. "I had a…date with someone and Kov offered to give me some privacy. He assured me he would stay in the crowded areas."

Hett cooled down now. "So he did, but because of maintenance work the hall we think he got kidnapped was quieter then normal. They must have followed him and waited for such an opportunity. "

"Then they haven't found him yet, sir?" Mbatu asked. "No, they only found his communicator on what we believe to be the scene of the crime," Hett responded. "We scanned the station but we haven't found him yet. But he is still there somewhere, if they had tried to smuggle him off the station we would have found him by now."

Hett now looked the despondent looking ensign in the eyes. "Which leaves me with disciplining you for disobeying a standing order, resulting in the kidnapping and most likely wounding of a fellow officer." Mbatu swallowed. "Your holodeck privileges are hereby suspended for a month, a note of this will be put into your personal record and you can spend the rest of the week cleaning out plasma conduits. Dismissed."

"Yes, sir." And the ensign hurried out of the office, leaving Hett to worry about the missing Vulcan. He would have a few stern words with him when they got him back. The problem was finding something that the Vulcan would actually consider a punishment. Hett sighed, he was getting too old for this.

**Babylon 5, Zocalo**  
The atmosphere on the Zocalo was depressing, as news spread about the Planet Killers. Merchants and customers alike went about their business with some subdueness as if they expected to be attacked themselves at any moment. Others watched the new Babylon news channel called "Voice of Resistance". On it, Ivanova gave the latest updates on planets that were attacked and a list of places that would accept refugees.

But for Londo Mollari, that was not the reason for his glum mood. Despite the company he had at the moment, who was enjoying a so-called 'Ice-cream Sunday' at the moment. But the source of his own state of mind was quite different from that of everybody else's and although he had tried to hide it, Adira had picked up that something was wrong.

"Londo, are you afraid that Centauri will be next?" And with that question she slipped her hand over his to comfort him. He in turn covered her hand with his other one as he replied. "Yes, among many other things. I have managed to get some of my contacts on the homeworld to talk to me again and the news is not good. But the most distressing event happened last night."

"As you know, some of our people know how, and sometimes even when, we are going to die. Comes in a dream, eh? I have always had the same dream. In that dream, I'm an old man, it's about sixteen years from now. And I am dying, with my hands wrapped around G'Kar's throat and his around mine. We were squeezing the life out of each other. I haven't had the dream for a couple of months now, ever since those Starfleet ships appeared."

Adira looked more worried now. "That could be a good thing, couldn't it?" Londo shook his head. "I wish it did. But last night I had the dream again. But midway, the image cracked and shattered. And in every shard I could see a different future. I cannot recall the details but I do remember this. In most, I will die very soon."

Londo now looked her directly in the eyes. "Because of me, you have almost died once already. It is not safe for you and I would be shattered if I lost you."

But Adira cut him off. "But not all the dreams showed an early death?" asked Adira. At Londo's negative reply, she continued. "Then we will simply have to hope for the best. And even if the worst happens, I have made my choice. I will stay here, by your side."

**Centauri Prime, Imperial Palace  
**It was night and from an open balcony the Centauri emperor looked at the sky. Only one moon was visible, light from the city blotted out the twinkling lights of the stars. He had summoned Mr. Morden but had now kept him waiting as he pondered. "The Vorlons are coming for your masters and they don't seem to care who gets burned in the process," Cartagia suddenly spoke.

"The Vorlons don't have the will to attack a world as big as Centauri Prime," Morden assured him. "They have only targeted outposts and smaller colonies so far. All were weakly defended so when they see your ships ready to defend this planet, they will loose their nerve and turn back. If that is all, may I be excused?"

For a moment, Cartagia seemed to be unaware of what he had said. Then he snapped out of it. "Yes, yes. Leave and tell your masters that the Centauri will defend their Emperor against anything." He made a dismissive gesture and Morden left. But Cartagia was deep in thought.

He was thinking of his poor people, how they would fare after he had ascended. And then he had it. 'If I become a god, my world could not survive without me. I cannot just abandon it, that would be cruel. And anyone who followed me would obviously be inferior. Best to put them out of their misery. I will take it all with me in spirit. I won't send the ships, I will turn Centauri Prime into an inauguration pyre to commemorate my ascension to godhood.' He would let it burn; he would let it all end…in fire.

**Babylon 5, Sheridan's Office**  
He was sitting on his bench, staring at a report on how many ships had reported at the gathering area so far. There were thousands already and more on the way. But he wasn't really seeing the letters; his mind was still on the brave crew that had sacrificed their lives to trick the Shadows into coming to Coriana 6. The others hadn't thought about how strange it was that the two races that had avoided direct confrontation so far had suddenly decided to go heads on.

White Star Eleven would never fly again. She had attacked a Shadow outpost and was destroyed by the Shadows' response force. In what was left of her computer, the Shadows would find information about a new base that would come online in a few days. They would most certainly respond with diverting one of their Planet Killers to take care of it.

He was glad for the distraction Ivanova offered when she entered. He motioned for her to sit next to him. He had been sitting in the dark but decided against turning on a light now. "It's hard to believe that most of those races were at each others throats a few months ago, but now look at that fleet," she remarked. "You know, all my life I have dreamed of going into battle commanding a fleet like that. No matter how this ends, we are going down fighting."

"It is quite a sight," Sheridan agreed. "But it won't be enough against the Shadows and the Vorlons." Ivanova raised his eyebrows at that as Sheridan continued. "You looked for other First Ones a few months ago and you found one group. But one isn't enough for this fight, we need more. You still have a few more leads, I want you to take White Star Two and look for other First Ones."

Susan however, didn't look happy with the assignment. "Even if I leave right now, I won't be back in time for the battle. Why don't you send Marcus alone, he will do great." But Sheridan shook his head. "No, you were the one that managed to convince the Walkers. Don't worry, you will get back in time for the battle, I promise."

Ivanova didn't seem convinced. "People have said that they would wait for me, that they would come for me but they never did. I can't do that anymore, John. Not unless I am sure."

"What do you want me to do?" asked Sheridan.

"I want you to make me a promise. Not as my friend or as my commanding officer but as one soldier to another, don't protect me. Don't hold me back. I want you to promise me that I will be there with the fleet at the end. No matter what happens." She paused. "I have just enough trust in me to believe you."

Sheridan gave her a small smile to reassure her. "You will be there. I promise." Susan stood up as she asked, "When do you want me to leave?" "As soon as possible." John answered. He spoke again, as she was about to leave, this time he spoke hesitantly as he searched for the right words. "Susan, I don't think I ever told you what a good friend you've been. And how proud I am of you. I just thought you should know, before you left." And with that, they bid each other goodnight.

VVV

Sheridan was fast asleep in his quarters. And in his sleep he dreamt.

He was standing on the edge of a balcony, looking into an abyss. Behind him he could here the screeches of what he instinctively knew were Shadows. He had to choose between facing them unarmed or jumping, he chose to jump. He was falling and kept on falling, then there was a flash.

He was somewhere else now, but it was dark. He couldn't see where he was, since there was only one light. It illuminated a Shadow and a Vorlon that were facing each other. Between them was a large chessboard but Sheridan couldn't quite make out the pieces so he moved closer. Now he discerned that they were not using ordinary pieces, but things he knew.

On the Vorlon side, such things as Vorlon warships had replaced the pieces. The king and queen there were two Planet Killers and Sharlins were used as pawns. The Shadows too had replaced their game pieces in a similar fashion, but among the pawns used by them were not only Drakh cruisers but Earth and Centauri warships as well. The two players each spoke before moving a piece and each time a piece moved, a million voices cried out in agony.

Another flash and he was falling again, his mind still recovering from the callousness with which the two beings had acted. Barely recovered, a third flash claimed him again and now he was looking at a subdued fire. He was underground somewhere, the cave was clearly artificial but seemed to be half-finished. Across from him, an alien he had never seen before looked at him curiously.

He was wearing some kind of robe and a headband across his bald head. He did have a beard and long fingers with four joints. He had felt like an observer so far, not in control of his own actions but a spectator in his own body. This time was different though and Sheridan used this freedom to ask questions. "Who are you?"

"Now that is a dangerous question, isn't it?" The alien responded. "There's never a good answer to it. I suppose that's the point. But I think they have forgotten that." There was silence once more as Sheridan mulled over the answer. He got frustrated. "Where the hell am I? Why am I here?"

"You know the name of this place, although you have never been here. As for why, I was waiting for someone to come. And here you are." He ended complacently, but it didn't tell Sheridan how he had gotten here. He couldn't even remember where he had been before he started falling.

"I can't stay here, there is a war going on out there," Said Sheridan. The alien looked into the fire again, looking sad. "Yes, I know. It's a terrible thing when your children fight. I warned the others, but they didn't listen. The young never listen."

Sheridan got a suspicion about what he was talking to. "Your children?" The unnamed being looked up again. "Metaphorically speaking of course. Those who came after me. Children...younger siblings."

"You're one of the First Ones," Sheridan accused him.

"No, not one of the First Ones. I am the First One," he responded. Sheridan looked at him in disbelief as the alien continued. "And now the younger races have come together to face those that have tried to follow our path. Brave, and most likely futile. Unless you understand this, you cannot get out of this situation by force. You must reason your way out of this." And with that statement a final flash engulfed Sheridan. This time he saw the ground rushing towards him and he woke up right before hitting the ground.

**USS _Odyssey_, hyperspace  
**His ship along with hundreds of others was waiting for the ship that had been detected entering Federation space only a day ago. They had chosen the most inconvenient time to strike as the Dominion had begun their own war against the Federation last month. Still, Starfleet was more prepared than last time.

Then the signal came, a transwarp conduit was opening and out came the shape feared by thousands of races. As it came back into normal space, shouting a triumphant scream that grated every mind in the fleet. Black armor that glistened with its own light covered the cube entirely. He was waiting for orders but it seemed as if his ship was now the only one facing the enemy.

Then the enemy fired before he could give the order to do so themselves. The purple beam simply bypassed the shields and hit the hull. All consoles went dead as the shadow armor was now replacing his own ship starting where the beam had hit. Soon he could see it growing inside, but he was frozen in his chair as he saw it closing in on him.

Now he was entirely surrounded, even his chair had changed into the night-black organic armor. He jumped of the chair and turned around to see where his crew was but couldn't see anybody. Then he felt something sting him in the neck. He swiftly turned around to see what it was as he began to feel something burning in his blood stream. He saw Sandra standing looking impassively at him covered in the black stuff, even half of her face was hidden by it. That was when he woke, bolting straight up in bed. For a moment he was disoriented, then he knew where he was again and where they were going. He thought about going to sleep again but decided to get up as his heart was still racing.

He walked out of the bedchamber to stare out the window, trying to understand the nightmare he just had. His ship was racing towards a Vorlon listening post at the moment as were Santowitz and Turol. They would each hit it at a predetermined time to make certain the Vorlons wouldn't discover the fleet moving to Coriana 6. They didn't know exactly how good the defenses would be of those listening posts but he was confident they could do it.

No, the real problem would be at Coriana 6. They would have to stop both the Vorlons and the Shadows or 6 billion people would die. The two fleets would most likely go at it with each other, but that was not certain. They had avoided a confrontation so far and Walker wondered again what this was all about. The two sides were obviously fighting over something for a very long time and seemed to want to make certain that the other side was around to know it had lost.

His mind returned to his dream, he had been there when the Borg tried their second assault. Although he wasn't a captain but a lieutenant at the time serving on board the USS _Lexington_. He was manning the ops station at the beginning of the battle but was manning tactical and serving as first officer at the end. They had taken quite a beating in that battle. Captain Richardson had survived that one, but he would die the next year during operation Return.

But it was that battle that had put him on this track, becoming captain of the ship he was onboard of this very moment. Trapped in another reality and now fighting to save the lives of countless billions because two races had seemingly gone mad. And of course meeting Sandra, who hadn't spoken to him since he had told her the truth. Thalev thought he should talk to her, but he believed that it was for her to decide when and where they would do that. If they would do that, he thought pessimistically.

**USS _Thunderchild_, hyperspace  
**Captain Turol was calm as always even though they were now fast approaching their target. Next to her, her first officer kept a close eye on the time and their location in comparison to normal space. The crew knew what they needed to do and how Turol wanted it before they had begun this mission so that she only needed to give one command. And the time for that was now as her Caitian officer let her know. "Drop us out of warp, commence attack run," Turol ordered. L'Rrran took it from there. "Open up a jumppoint, standby on shields. Load torpedoes and charge phasers. Fire everything on my command."

The Akira barely slowed down to sublight speeds when it opened up the jumppoint and barreled out of hyperspace. Targeting sensors immediately identified their target, which hadn't detected the ship before it had left warp and was still trying to identify it. L'Rrran didn't wait for that and gave the order with her purring voice, "Fire!"

A volley of photon torpedoes now swiftly moved towards the target, preceded by two phaser beams that struck the listening post. It looked like a colony of giant, green mushrooms sitting on an asteroid mingled with equally green spires. But both kinds of structures collapsed as the nine torpedoes impacted, in fact the asteroid itself cracked and fractured under the combined antimatter explosions.

The _Thunderchild_ itself executed a swift turnaround and was moving away from the asteroid again. They already knew that it would only take one volley. They now opened a jumppoint and moved into hyperspace, they had a fleet to join.

**White Star One, hyperspace  
**They were almost there, soon they would be facing two of the most powerful races in the known universe. Sheridan was now staring out the window at a small part of the massive fleet they were traveling with. He could see Minbari, EarthForce, Vree, Brakiri, Gaim and even a Narn cruiser flying along. Then close by a Federation runabout zoomed across, it was one of several that functioned as the lookouts of the fleet. These small things were the ones that allowed them to travel this far off the beacon.

Delenn, who had been standing next to him observing the fleet as well, now choose to break the silence. "We have had word from Ivanova. She has found another one of the First Ones and is now coming to join us. I told her to stay at Babylon 5 but she insisted. She said you had promised her that she would be there."

Sheridan nodded. "I did, I promised her as a soldier that she would be here, in the end, to see this through." Delenn gave him a small smile. "I did not think she would lie, so I told her to come. She said she would 'haul ass'." A tiny frown had crossed her face as she had recalled Ivanova's precise words and amusement tinted her next words. "Although that seems to be a very undignified position from which to command one of the White Star fleet." Sheridan couldn't help but return the smile, then his gaze was drawn back to the sight outside.

"Look at it, what a beautiful sight." Delenn had to agree with that. "Yes, it is." She continued. "I think this a gift to the universe from your race." Sheridan looked at her puzzled. "Gift?" Delenn had a slight smile as she explained. "Yes, humans are unique in that they build communities. Babylon 5 and even Starfleet are examples of this. The United Federation even shows this trait is universal among your kind. My people nor any other race would have considered building such a place, nor would they have considered cooperating like this."

She continued. "You were right that we can't survive on our own, but none of the others would have come on the idea to band together like this. Not even me. You should be proud of this accomplishment, an assemblage of a multitude of races working together for a common cause." Sheridan thought it over; he didn't think his own contribution was that big. Enlightened self-interest had done most of the work. "Well, win or loose. At least we will go down fighting," he responded.

**Minbari Sharlin warcruiser _Dahrlien_, hyperspace  
**Shai Alyt Shakiri was sitting in his chair on the bridge, waiting for the ship to arrive at its destination. He wasn't alone, with him were ten more Sharlins belonging to the warrior caste. Unlike those weak-minded fools of the religious caste, the warriors around him operating the ship wore more sensible clothing. No bright robes that would easily cause someone to stumble every five minutes but dark tunics that didn't make his warriors such obvious targets.

His own dress was a bit more elaborate to signify his position as leader of the warrior caste. But that wasn't enough, the warrior caste was the strongest and the most important so naturally they should be the ones to lead their people. But Delenn was threatening to outmaneuver him, building up a fleet of ships that had Vorlon technology and enlisting the help of outsiders.

But he could do something about the latter, now that every ship defending Babylon 5 was currently away, including those three Starfleet ships and the Drakh were regrouping. And this would also ensure that these other humans as well as the degenerate race that had given them their technology would not be a danger in the future. And then they were at their destination.

He ordered all ships to jump save two that would remain in hyperspace. Something to fall back on if his plan didn't work, a small chance but one should not take risks in war if one could avoid it. His ships exited hyperspace close to the Starfleet station that wasn't suspect a thing. "Open a channel to the Starfleet station." Meanwhile his ships took up position, forming a crescent formation around the hollowed out asteroid.

The being that appeared on the screen was a blue, bald alien but he was wearing the same uniform as the humans. What a perversion to allow other species to serve in their military, but it also could prove to be an opportunity. Humans were too stubborn as was evident from the war when they simply refused to lie down and die. This one could be more reasonable.

"I am Shai Alyt Shakiri, leader of the warrior caste. It has come to my attention that you have been sharing your technology with the humans here as well as with the religious caste. You will now share it with my caste."

The blue alien seemed to hear the threat and frowned. "And if we are not inclined to do so?"

Shakiri smiled. "Then we will simply have to take it out of the smoldering remains of your station. You have five minutes to hand over your entire database by linking your computer with ours. We will take care of the transfer. You will also give us two of your 'runabouts'." He had seen the recordings of the battle, they could reverse engineer anything that those Starfleeters would try to omit in their database from those tiny crafts.

He didn't wait for his reply and ordered to close the channel. Perhaps they would try to resist, but that would be futile. Babylon 5 was demanding to know what they were doing, but he ignored them. He would deal with those pests afterwards or sooner, if they were foolish enough to interfere.

**White Star One, In orbit of Coriana 6  
**Sheridan was waiting, the White Star crew was waiting and the fleet was waiting. In war you did a lot of waiting, most people seemed to forget that battles were the exception in war and not the rule. But they wouldn't have to wait much longer. "The _Odyssey _is hailing us, Captain," Lennier informed him. John nodded that he had heard him, "Put it on."

On the screen appeared Captain Walker, sitting calmly on the bridge. "Captain Sheridan, our sensors just picked up the two fleets we have been waiting for. They should make the passage back to normal space any minute now."

"They managed to get awfully close. Don't your sensors usually pick ships up from farther away than that?"

Walker pressed his lips together before answering. "It appears they are quite good at hiding themselves." He was interrupted by a Starfleet lieutenant. "I am reading hyperspace disturbances, jumppoints forming." At the same time Lennier confirmed this for Sheridan.

In space hundreds of vortices opened and from them thousands of cephalopod-like ships entered normal space. Among them was a giant ship, the feared Planet Killer. Its main body consisted of two discs separated by a band of blue light. It was green like any other Vorlon ship and like them had tentacle shaped protrusions on the front.

Opposing them, a fleet of night-black ships entered space. They did not use jumppoints but simply shimmered into view. They too looked organic, vaguely resembling spiders in their design. Their own Planet Killer was of a different design, merely a black cloud that hid any clue to the machinery inside that could wipe out planets. Both fleets now raced towards each other.

Everyone in the fleet had watched the spectacle in silence, including those on the bridge of White Star One. Lennier remarked, "They're headed straight for each other. It's as if they don't even notice we're here. Or they don't care."

"Then let's get their attention. What nukes are in that area?" They had planted most of the mines that G'Kar had provided them on nearby asteroids. Apparently, neither side had detected them yet. "Six, eight and twelve," Delenn informed him.

Sheridan gave the order. "Transfer firing control to my station Mr. Lennier." He did so swiftly and Sheridan didn't waste time. "Good morning gentlemen, this is your…" But he was interrupted by Lennier. "I am detecting a powerful transmission from Z'Ha'Dum. And now another one from Vorlon territory. Their ships are stopping."

Sheridan turned his chair at that new development. "What?"

Outside, clear for all to see the two opposing fleets of First Ones slowed down and stopped. Then turned around and raced back into hyperspace as fast as they could. Sensors on the Federation ships informed the fleet that they were both returning to their own territory as fast as possible. Everyone was stumped at this rather anticlimactic end to a battle that hadn't even started yet.

On White Star Two, the silence was first broken by Marcus who tried to give it a positive note. "Well, you don't suppose we scared them off?" Ivanova just looked at him incredulously. On the _Odyssey_, a transmission broke their puzzlement over this latest development. "Captain, we just got a call from DSB. The Minbari…"

**Deep Space Babylon, Ops**  
Commander Hett stared at the blank screen for a moment after that Minbari had ended the transmission. 'Well this is a fine mess,' he thought to himself. An older Vulcan called for his attention, "Commander, Babylon 5 wants to know what is going on."

"Put them on, lieutenant." On the viewscreen doctor Franklin appeared, he didn't waste time but asked what those Minbari ships were doing. "We have just received an ultimatum from their leader, they want all our knowledge and aren't squeamish about killing a few of us to get it."

Franklin now looked even more worried. "During the war, one of their favorite tactics was to use jumppoints as weapons. I think that is why there are still two of their ships in hyperspace. Do you need assistance?"

Hett shook his head. "No, we can handle them. Including those two in hyperspace. But I am trying to find a way to resolve this without blasting them all to bits, the Minbari are still our allies and I don't think they would appreciate it." Hett frowned and then asked a question that seemed to be completely irrelevant. "Where is mister Garibaldi? I thought this was more his kind of expertise than yours, doctor."

Franklin had been stunned by how casual he had talked about taking out almost a dozen Minbari warcruisers so he didn't reply immediately. "Ehm, he had a lead about where your missing crewman is and he isn't responding to his link."

"Really? Well we will worry about that later, we have more pressing matters to deal with right now." Then suddenly he smiled pleasantly, but his voice had changed from slightly annoyed to one with a dangerous tone. "And I think I just thought of a way, DSB out."

Hett didn't waste time after that and hastily gave his orders. His subordinates were equally fast carrying out their orders, they didn't have much time to get things prepared. Hett had figured that they would have to act before the deadline so that they would hopefully react a little slower. They would probably be more on edge afterwards, but nothing was certain.

TBC


	31. To Err is Universal

Author's notes: The number of reviews seems to be steadily climbing these last few chapters. Thank you all. I was wondering if you could include in your review what exactly you liked about the chapter? Just something I am curious about. As always I want to thank my betareaders for their quality work. Without them, this story wouldn't be so popular I wager.

And now for your questions:

Agent-G: Whether they get home or not, the story would end bittersweet. Shakiri will learn humility eventually…

Katari8010: The feds have enough supplies so they have no need for that. The chance that the event that brought them to the B5-verse is 1 in a number so great I can't think of a word for it. Once in the universe its lifetime occurrence that exactly those two universe at those points in their respective timelines in those regions of space got connected.

X-Over: Oh, who says it will end with the commander of the station?

Worker72: Everyone is in for a lot of surprises.

Teezer: I update when I finish a chapter, and at the moment I seem to be cranking them out at a rate of one a month. But that can go faster or slower depending on

I would further like to thank the above readers as well as BGTom, The Sithspawn, rankokunalpha1, oblivionknight7, Lucas43, grayangle, WBH21C, Jerry Unipeg, wordoftruthhunter26 and Evilclone for their positive reviews.

**To Err is Universal**

'He who has great power should use it lightly.'  
- Seneca

**Deep Space Babylon**  
EarthForce ensign Elise Kimmer was brooding in her guest quarters. She had hoped that they would let her go after arriving at Babylon 5 but they hadn't. It's for your own good they had said. They wouldn't trust you and might try deepscanning you for information they had said. She didn't believe them but she couldn't be sure that her people wouldn't do that. So now she had luxurious quarters on their station.

Although truth be told, these Starfleeters seemed to think this kind of accommodations was normal and necessary. And then there was her neighbor, a woman she had met the other day. She seemed nice enough but then Elise found out she was a telepath. An unlicensed telepath was running around without gloves or regulations and they actually thought it was a good thing to put her next to it. She shuddered at the thought.

Maybe she could watch some news. Her "hosts" even let her watch ISN although she didn't feel very satisfied watching that anymore. They didn't seem to be so accurate anymore. She had overheard some of them betting on how many things ISN would get wrong about the Federation this day. And they had something of a point, they hadn't let her go everywhere but she was quite certain those areas weren't big enough to house the human experimentation labs, holding areas and torture chambers that were supposed to be here.

Not that she trusted any other information she came across. The information she was allowed to access in their own database seemed to be a bit too utopian and upbeat. She switched to "Voice of Resistance" which she hadn't found to be lying yet but she was careful. They had regular segments about the war and that was what concerned her the most. At least she had been concerned about it until they started talking of planet killers and how the Vorlons and a race called the Shadows were competing with each other to see who could kill the most people.

ISN hadn't even mentioned this so far which had been another disappointment for Kimmer. Against the Centauri they had a chance, but not against a race that could wipe out planets and had fleets composed of thousands of ships. They didn't stand a chance against something like that and even these Starfleeters had been looking grim lately. They didn't seem to like this anymore than she did.

Then some kind of alarm sounded.

VVV

Commander Hett was standing in the middle of the Ops center, awaiting the final preparations for his plan. "Commander, the last team reports they are in position. And we have a lock on everybody," reported ensign Schopper.

"And with two minutes to spare," Hett replied. "Lieutenant Annon, raise shields and tell the transporter rooms to begin." The officer he had given these orders to immediately tapped in a sequence on his console to execute the command. The Minbari would no doubt detect the shield going up and Hett had no intention to give them time to respond.

So, the various transporters too hummed into action. First they transported every Minbari that was on a bridge of every one of their ships to the brig stripped of their weapons and other devices they may carry. Following up on that they transported security teams to these now empty bridges to take control of the ships. The objective was to do so swiftly enough, in order to prevent any of the Minbari crews to mount some kind of counter-offensive to try to retake the ship.

**Minbari Sharlin Warcruiser _Dahrlien_**  
Shakiri had been waiting patiently and became somewhat bored until his five-minute ultimatum was up. He was hoping they would resist, it would make this little trip a little more exciting and would serve as a good lesson for the rest. But excitement would come soon enough. "Alyt, scanners are detecting an energy field building up around the Starfleet station!"

This announcement caused Shakiri to straighten up from his seat, but before he could give any orders or respond in any way a blue light washed over him. And then he was standing in some kind of room surrounded by the others who had been on the bridge only a moment ago. In front of him a Starfleeter was standing behind a console looking at him. The lights were a bit too bright for his liking but he didn't care about that at the moment

With a growl he launched himself at the man, intending to beat the vermin to a bloody pulp for removing him from his bridge. Instead he smacked into the security field, bounced back and fell on his behind. Anger now contorted his face, as the others around him now looked everywhere for a way out of what had to be a cell. "Release me now and we will spare one tenth of your crew," he roared. "If you do not then I will see to it that you will witness how we execute the survivors one by one!" The Starfleeter blinked at the threat and then, baffling and infuriating Shakiri further, he chuckled.

**Minbari Sharlin Warcruiser _Me'lir Sil_, Epsilon III**  
Six blue lights coalesced on the bridge of the Sharlin, turning into living beings. But any potential witnesses to this were no longer there as they had undergone a similar process earlier. That didn't mean, however, that the security officers didn't have their rifles at the ready in case things didn't go as planned. They rarely did go as planned but so far this seemed to be one of those occasions where everything worked and there were no surprises.

Lieutenant Summers didn't waste time. "Velasquez and Wallace, secure the ship. Wasaka, Pol and Jo'Bik you guard the exits." She herself moved to another console and began perusing through their database. They couldn't take any data from it unless she found a way to do so without the Minbari finding out. They were a volatile race with a penchant for acting without thinking of the consequences. No need to the situation even more unstable by being greedy. Unfortunately, one of the bridge crew had opened a channel to the engine room just before he was whisked away.

Vashaer had been puzzled why the bridge had fallen silent, then he heard a voice giving what sounded like commands in an alien language. One that sounded suspiciously much like English. Before he could decide what to do about it however, Nashon called for his attention. "The bridge is powering down all systems except life-support and the artificial gravity system."

Vashaer looked up and now tried to make up for his slow response earlier by talking and moving fast. "Stop it, lock out the bridge controls and sound the intruder alarm. Those Starfleeters have somehow infiltrated the bridge." Everybody else that heard him stopped with what they were doing and looked at him stunned. They couldn't believe it, there had been no prior indication that the Starfleet station would resist and the last time a Minbari ship was boarded was when the Sha'gh Toth tried to steal Dukhat's soul.

Nashon did react immediately, with the proof staring at him as the jump engines were brought offline by the bridge—something his Shai Alyt nor any other would ever order. His hands flew over the controls trying to wrestle control from the intruders. The others just began moving again to try and help when all the containment seals suddenly engaged, closing off the room.

Nashon informed Vashaer of why that happened. "They just tricked the computer into thinking that we had hull breaches on all decks, everything is closed off. It will take us hours to reach the bridge now!"

"We can't let them have the ship," Vashaer snapped. He couldn't believe how swiftly these aliens had managed to operate Minbari controls. There was only one option left to save their honor. "Overload the fusion reactors, they will not have this ship." It was the only way.

Summers had stopped working on the database and had helped her team to keep the Minbari from wrestling control of the ship's systems from the bridge. But now it seemed as if they had failed, the fusion reactors were going out of control and every time they tried to slow down the reactions, the Minbari countered their attempts. Even if they could keep them from blowing the ship up, there was no way to say how much more of this abuse the reactors could take.

She tapped her commbadge. "Team six for Ops, we need an emergency beam out for us and the crew. They are trying to blow up the ship and I can't be sure they won't succeed." Commander Hett's response was swift although not what she had expected. "We will do something better, lieutenant."

In the engine room, Nashon was getting frustrated. Those Starfleeters shouldn't have been able to do this yet here he was fighting to keep at least some control on their own systems from a being that couldn't have seen Minbari controls before this day. Then suddenly, the most peculiar error appeared on his console before it went dark alongside every other one.

"Quith! Nashon, what happened?" Nashon licked his lips before answering. "I do not know. Right before the controls went dark the computer reported that it had lost contact with all of the reactors." In the shallow lighting Nashon could see that Vashaer was as perplexed as he was.

**Babylon 5, Yellow sector**  
After that little problem with the missing level, Garibaldi had become more suspicious of the station itself. He hadn't expected the schematics to be off but now he didn't take chances and kept an eye on irregularities like that. He didn't think he would find another level filled with Nightwatch but maybe smugglers did some redecorating of their own to further business.

And something had come up, bringing him to Yellow sector on a search for what was claimed to be a storage room containing office supplies and self-sealing stem bolts. Whatever those things where. But he couldn't find any evidence of something being taken out or brought to it. Not to mention that it was an odd place to store office supplies, almost right next to the fusion reactors.

It would be attractive to criminals because it was an area that few people ever went to and it was one of those few areas on the station that the Federation sensors couldn't get good readings. He would have waited a while before coming here until he found out whom they bribed to do the necessary paper work but with the missing Starfleeter, he couldn't wait forthat.

These were his reflections as he woke up. Apparently they had counted on people trying to sneak around. This was the second time he had been shot in the back, although this time it was thankfully just a stun shot. It still hurt but it was his pride more than his body that got battered by this turn of events. He pretended to still be out, looking around through barely opened eyelids.

A pleasant surprise was that he had found the missing Starfleeter looking none worse for wear. His mood was dampened however when his eye caught a woman massaging her own head standing not too far off. The hands rubbing her head were gloved and he now knew why someone had kidnapped Kov. But by the looks of it, the Vulcan's mind didn't agree with her.

Continuing his circumspect survey of the room he counted at least four other men, all armed. He was still trying to figure out how he would get out of this mess when he heard shots outside. Above the noise he heard Zack announcing they were under arrest and that they were ordered to throw down their weapons. The thugs didn't listen.

Three of the men dropped what they were doing and drew their weapon as they ran out the door. One remained and he moved closer to Garibaldi. Standing close to Kov but ignoring him the man sporting two ugly looking scars pointed his weapon at the chief. "You can drop the act, I saw you twitch." Michael debated keeping still for a moment but the teep would see right through it. "Well, you got me. But why would an observant fellow like you stick around? It doesn't sound like things are going your way."

His words were enforced by someone crying out. The man with the scars however just grinned. "Yep, but the boss said no witnesses. Any last words?" Michael couldn't believe the man would use should a cliche but he wasn't the only one that had heard him. Apparently the man had become so used to Kov just sitting there, staring into space that he hadn't kept his distance.

The other mistake was not binding Kov's legs to the chair as they had done to his arms. He sprung into action, planting the points of his shoes into the front and back of the man. He barely missed his spinal column but still something could be heard cracking. The man lost his balance and collapsed to his knees wheezing. Before Kov could kick the man again however, he rolled away.

Judging from the curses and outcries of the scarred man, he somewhat regretted that last move. But he held on to his PPG and this time he didn't aim it at Garibaldi. "Goddamn alien!" He hissed through clenched teeth as he fired, hitting Kov right in the chest. He was prevented from firing again by a security officer sticking a rifle into his ear. He was smart enough to drop the gun even before being ordered to do so. Others now streamed into the room to cover him.

The telepath wasn't armed and so she surrendered without a fight. Someone else rushed over to Kov to check on him as another of Garibaldi's crew began freeing the chief. Michael had already recognized Allen but he wondered how Zack knew he needed a rescue. "Good to see you're alright Chief," Zack began.

"It's good to be alright," he stated as he rubbed his wrists. Looking over to the Vulcan that was now being carried out of the room he continued by asking, "how is he?" One of the two that was carrying the Vulcan still bound to the chair shot a reply back without either of them slowing down. "Alive."

That was good too, Garibaldi thought. It wouldn't do if the man he was trying to rescue had died rescuing Michael. He turned his attention towards Allen again. "Now how did you find out that I was in trouble?" Zack seemed to look uncomfortable about answering. "You didn't answer your link, the doc has been trying to call you for 15 minutes now."

'Oh great, another crisis no doubt.' But that didn't answer how Zack knew where to look and Garibaldi said so. "Well I asked the computer when you last used the elevator and I reasoned that since you were looking for the missing Starfleeter you would most likely be looking on the other side of the level that the elevator dropped you off." Garibaldi narrowed his eyes now. "And how, exactly, did the computer know that?"

Zack replied, "because I asked it to keep an eye on your elevator use since that incident with those Llort two months ago." Garibaldi didn't know whether to be happy for the timely save or annoyed at his second-in-command's lack of faith.

VVV

In CnC Doctor Franklin could only wait as the Federationists made their move. Long minutes stretched out as he and the rest on the command deck waited for something to happen, until for a brief moment a new star appeared not too far off from the Starfleet station. "Was that an explosion?"

"Scanners confirm it," Corwin reported, "a thermo-nuclear explosion with a yield of 54 megatons. It wasn't near any of the Minbari ships, sir. Scanners are also detecting four, correction, three what appear to be adrift fusion reactors near where the explosion occurred." Corwin paused as he received a message. "DSB is hailing us."

"Patch it through." On the screen Commander Hett appeared looking pleased with himself. Franklin didn't waste time with pleasantries. "I take it you were successful?"

Hett nodded. "We were, although there were some problems in securing one of the ships. That was the cause of the explosion you might have picked up. But nobody got hurt, on either side."

"That still leaves those two warships in hyperspace," Franklin pointed out. "They will suspect something has gone wrong soon, so what are you going to do about that?"

"Talk, the right words can prove to be as effective as a phaser set to vaporize. If you will excuse me." And with that the channel was closed.

**Minbari Sharlin Warcruiser _Trigati_, hyperspace**  
Neroon was still waiting for a signal from Shakiri. They should have received word by now whether the Federationists had yielded or if force was necessary. Unlike Shakiri, Neroon had studied the reports from Lennan and the station's performance against the Drakh closely. It is why he had insisted on two ships remaining in hyperspace so they could perform a jumppoint attack on the station should the Starfleeters choose to resist.

He did not think a conventional assault against the station would be successful. He had seen the recordings from the _Khisal_; he had seen what DSB had done to the Drakh fleet attacking it. Even if their stealth fields proved to be effective against Federation scanners, and that it was not a certainty was galling of itself, they would still loose ships. That station had shown to posses enough weaponry to simply saturate nearby space with weapons fire.

But even if the Federationists had complied with our ultimatum, Shakiri should still have sent a signal to inform him of that. It could only mean something unexpected had happened. His second-in-command interrupted his train of thought. "Alyt, we are being contacted by the station."

"Tell Babylon 5 we will be leaving shortly," Neroon ordered absentmindedly. "Do not tell them why we are here."

"You misunderstand me, Shai Alyt." Neroon now gave him his full attention, dreading the next words. "It is the Starfleet station that is contacting us. Shall we respond?" Neroon made an affirmative gesture and turned to face whoever was attempting to communicate with them. The holographic screen now showed a bald alien, standing in a dimly lit command center.

"I am Commander Hett, commanding officer of Deep Space Babylon. I want to inform you that we have disabled all the ships that threatened us and that their command staffs are now guests aboard our station. We have also informed ambassador Delenn about this. As soon as she has arrived we will turn all the Minbari ships and their crews over to her. No Minbari has been harmed yet and I would like to keep it that way. Here is proof of my words." His image was replaced by what appeared to be some kind of cell holding a bedraggled group of Minbari warriors and a raving Shakiri. "That is all." And with that, the transmission was cut.

So it had gone wrong even more badly than he had feared. Next to him, his Alyt had not responded well to the tone of the alien. "Shai Alyt, they must be bluffing. They probably managed to jam Alyt Shakiri's signal and now hope to bluff their way out of defeat. We should attack now." Neroon thought it over, but he had noticed something that Nevall had obviously missed. The command center seemed to be calm and undamaged.

Of course, he had heard that the Federationists had some impressive holographic technology but Neroon doubted they could have staged a deception like that so quickly. And the transmission itself should be impossible if any of their ships was still fighting with the station. Shakiri would not risk it sending a distress signal to their own ships. Which meant that he was either not bluffing or the station was not even phased by the attack in which case there was very little need for bluffing unless they had guessed correctly why there were still two ships waiting in hyperspace.

"Signal the _Blood of Saints_ to follow us and set a course to Minbar." His orders were not well received by Nevall. "Alyt, no!" But before he could say more, Neroon interrupted him. "Minbari do not kill Minbari, Alyt Nevall. I will not risk breaking a rule that has held for over a thousand years simply on the slim chance that the other side is bluffing! You have your orders, carry them out."

**USS _Odyssey_, Coriana 6**  
Walker didn't have to explain what happened at DSB to the other two captains, they had received Hett's message too. But there were several things that needed to be done and so only one could return to DSB right now. "I propose you go back to DSB Santowitz. I myself will inform ambassador Delenn."

"Now why should I go back? I don't want anything to do with that pack of thieves!" Boris stated angrily.

Peter ventured, "because you spent a year with the Klingons. The Minbari that threatened DSB were from the warrior caste and who better to deal with warriors than you?"

Now Turol joined the discussion. "I agree that Captain Santowitz is the best choice, but it might be best that I confer with the ambassador. The _Odyssey_ is better suited to investigate if the Vorlons have withdrawn from Centauri Prime as well then my own ship."

"Oh I wouldn't say that. If their behavior here is any indication there might not even be a Shadow ship left there. If a runabout could go as fast as a starship I would have sent one of those, tactical superiority is not a concern in this matter," Walker tried to object.

"It would not be wise to lower our guard because of one incident. Cooler heads should take the lead in these and other matters." Walker thought he had hidden his own anger better but apparently Turol had picked up on it. And she didn't want to embarrass him in front of the crew by bluntly pointing it out. If he met with Delenn he might let his anger get the better of him and that couldn't be allowed. There was no reason to suspect the ambassador had a part or knowledge about this.

"You're right Captain. Better safe than sorry, we will go to Centauri Prime. And Boris," Walker waited a second as Santowitz refocused on Walker's side of the viewscreen before continuing. "Qapla'." And he accompanied it by bringing his right fist to his heart like the Klingons did.

It managed to lighten the mood, returning Santowitz his half smile. Boris returned the salute. "Qapla'." Then closed down his channel followed by Turol who hadn't participated in the little jest. "Helm, set a course for Centauri Prime. Standby to go to warp and bring us into hyperspace."

VVV

Captain Turol didn't waste time, herself. She was already out of her chair and moving to the turbolift when she gave her orders. "Inform Captain Sheridan that I wish to speak to him and Ambassador Delenn. Also tell them that Captain Walker is investigating how the Centauri have faired. You have the bridge, Commander L'Rrran." And then the turbolift doors closed, taking the captain swiftly to her destination.

**Whitestar One, Coriana 6**  
On the Whitestar they had noted the swift departure of two of the Starfleet ships and the communiqué they received only answered part of what was going on. They now knew where the _Odyssey_ was going but why was the _Salvador_ leaving as well?

Then a hum sounded throughout the bridge, startling everybody as a blue light appeared. Sheridan was the first to recover from his shock having the advantage of being told what this was. But seeing was something else, Sheridan thought, as he watched how the shimmering column of light coalesced into a humanoid shape.

The person that had 'beamed' aboard, as the Federationists called it was the Vulcan captain. She didn't pay much attention to the stares of the stunned crew. "Captain, Ambassador." She greeted. "Could I speak to you somewhere more private?"

Sheridan's eyebrows furrowed as he pondered this request. "Ehm, sure. I think we can find something. Walk this way." Luckily Delenn had recovered by now and kept her own questions to herself for the moment. Was this some kind of projection like the one used by Draal or did her eyes tell the truth? Was the Starfleet captain teleported from her ship to the Whitestar?

Her people had heard that the Vree had such a technology but that was described as being some kind of dimensional portal. This didn't look anything like that and the captain looked too solid too be a projection. She had also noted that Sheridan wasn't as surprised as the rest of them. Did he already know of this device and if so, why hadn't he told her?

"John, did you know they had that ability?" She asked in a whisper. "I heard about it a little while back after Susan came back from Vega. But she said that the Starfleeters wanted to keep it under wraps, something about preventing conceptual contamination."

Turol interrupted them, "That concern has since become moot, Captain."

Sheridan grimaced slightly as he realized they hadn't been as discreet as they thought. "Is that the reason you needed to talk to us so hastily?"

"Yes." Was the monosyllabic answer.

"In here," he invited her to an empty room the crew used to sleep. Turol wasted no more time. "It is also the reason why we wanted to talk to you and Ambassador Delenn. Approximately one hour ago, nine Minbari warcruisers entered normal space near Deep Space Babylon and then proceeded to state an ultimatum to our station. Either we gave them access to all of our technology or they would destroy the station and retrieve what they sought themselves."

Delenn thought that the Vorlons and Shadows beating a hasty retreat without firing a shot or this Federation teleportation device would be the biggest surprise the day had in store for her. She had been proven wrong but she couldn't think of anyone that would…

And then she realized which Minbari caste was missing from the fleet here, which caste had said that the affairs of others were not their concern and stood by that statement even now. "Did their leader identify himself?"

"Yes, he called himself Shakiri and claimed to be a leader of the Warrior caste."

Sheridan now pitched in, he wanted to know how big the devastation was. Had his own station been damaged or worse, had the Minbari destroyed it before attacking DSB? "You obviously managed to beat them, what's the damage?"

"Commander Hett managed to subdue them without injuring any of them. Two additional warships were waiting in hyperspace. They left on their own after the Commander did some convincing. I am afraid that one of the ships was damaged, it will have to be towed back."

"And Babylon 5?"

"It was ignored. The Minbari focused entirely on our station and did not even answer the hails from Babylon 5. Commander Hett advised Doctor Franklin not to interfere, the situation was delicate enough."

Delenn's own thoughts were racing. Delicate indeed. Not only had the Warrior Caste compromised their relationship with Starfleet, they had done so in front of everybody which made it impossible to cover up. Either the Minbari took responsibility for this as a people or they had to acknowledge the inner turmoil that had begun plaguing their society.

The latter was impossible not only because it would invite attack from their more aggressive neighbors who would want to take advantage of it, but it would also demoralize their allies. The former option was even more problematic as this would cause distrust among their allies and might even further damage their relationship with Starfleet if they refused to give everyone and everything back immediately.

"How did you manage to damage a ship so severely that it needs to towed but without harming the crew?" The thought had left her mouth before she could think about it. She began to suspect it had something to do with their teleporter even as she formulated the question.

"The boarding team on one of the ships wasn't fast enough and the crew almost succeeded in overloading their fusion reactors. We used our transporter to beam the reactors out, thus thwarting their attempt. This is also the reason why this incident will get out. One of the reactors exploded and every ship at the station most likely recorded that event."

"My people will want you to return the ships and their crews as swiftly as possible. Many among my people may take it as an insult that a younger race such as you has bested our ships. They would call for retribution, ignoring that it was our people that made the error."

Turol's right eyebrow rose at that. "Ambassador, my people have been in space for longer than yours has. And I do hope your people will remember that we are allies, because we do remember. You are fortunate that the Federation has experience dealing with…difficult allies."

Both Sheridan and Delenn looked up from that first comment. But Delenn had to drive her point home. "Even though we are allies, this incident alone will be enough for some of my people to demand vengeance for the imagined slight to Minbari honor. I do not share that opinion, I am just thankful you managed to contain the situation."

"We have no intention of keeping the ships or their crew. We will turn them and their ships over into your custody, confident that you will ensure that something like this does not happen again. We understand that you cannot control every member of your society but I do believe you have problems at home that need to be resolved soon."

"Of course, I will see to that."

**Primus _Turhan_, Near the Second Moon of Centauri Prime**  
By tradition the flagship carrying the current Emperor was always named after the previous one, it was a way to invoke the blessing of the now deified ruler. And right now it was carrying Emperor Cartagia as he watched the massive Vorlon fleet moving away. They had not even started burning Centauri Prime, instead they had stopped as the mighty Planet Killer was powering up.

But why were they leaving? Cartagia was not yet a god so why were the Vorlons leaving? "Order our ships to pursue them! We cannot allow this breach of our sovereignty to remain unpunished." The Admiral who received that order looked aghast at the thought of firing on a Vorlon ship. The Vorlons had decided to spare them this time but if they fired upon them, they might decide to come back on that decision and incinerate their people after all.

Desperate for a way to avoid that catastrophe, he grabbed at anything he could. "My lord, the Vorlons have already retreated back into hyperspace. Even if our ships were fast enough to catch up with them, we cannot possibly find them anymore."

Something that Cartagia knew full well. "The Vorlons may have escaped our wrath this time," he grumbled. "But should they decide to trespass into our territory again we will teach them the error of their ways." Which left the question why his ascension had been postponed? Why had they not sacrificed his people?

Of course, that was it. His people were not yet ready for this step and a part of him had recognized this. That part had commanded the Vorlons to halt their advance, to come back at a later time to finish their great work. But no mortal, not even an Emperor could command gods. This meant that he was more, he must already be on the way to godhood. He was a half-god!

**Galen's Pinnace, Coriana 5**  
'Well that was an anti-climactic end to the show.' Galen had gone to some length to be here when Sheridan did his desperate gamble but it had all been for naught. The absence of any Soul Hunters should have been a clue to him and the others that there would be very little death this day. At least in this system.

But right now he was more interested in the distress calls the Vorlons and Shadows had sent. The two messages that had aborted the battle. There was no question that they were distress calls of a sort, the urgency and shortness indicated that much. He quickly disregarded the Vorlon message as it was nothing more than a general recall order for all ships.

The Shadow one wasn't encrypted either but who among the younger races could translate their native language? The Federation might, Galen would not underestimate them but without any prior knowledge of the Shadow language it would take them a while to make any sense out of it. As it stood his own ship took a few minutes to translate it into something he could understand.

The first part was akin to the Vorlon message. 'All vessels must return to Z'ha'Dum.' Although that was an imprecise translation, the word used indicated that the ships should return to Shadow territory, which included the three systems nearest to Z'ha'Dum. But the second part was puzzling. 'The Builders have returned.' Now who were these 'Builders' and why did they leave?

VVV

G'Quon wrote: There is a darkness greater than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities...it is against chaos and despair.

Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril, we can never surrender. The future is all around us, waiting in moments of transition to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future, or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.

- The book of G'Kar, 2262.

TBC


	32. Mano a Mano

Author's notes: This chapter is a long one but curiously it is mostly about one event. I also stumbled upon something of a problem when writing this when I realized something. I didn't know if Sharlins actually had bridges like those on Whitestars or that every captain commanded their ship from that holographic room we have seen in the series. I concluded in the end that it would be odd for the Minbari to suddenly change their design preferences so I assumed that the Minbari bridge is modeled after the one used on a Sharlin. As always I want to thank my betareaders for their quality work. Without them, this story wouldn't be so popular I wager.

And now for your questions:

Agent-G: Things are getting even more interesting with the Minbari. But you can read that here. As for how far along the story is, I estimate that I am now about halfway. Of course this story has had a tendency to expand as I wrote so it might just be a third.

X-Over: The Hand will not feature in my story. I just don't know enough about them to do so but the other First Ones are going to play a part in my story. As for the Builders, more about them will be revealed as this story unfolds.

Worker72: Don't worry, I am aiming for a happy ending but a cheesy one it will most certainly not be.

I would further like to thank the above readers as well as BGTom, The Sithspawn, rankokunalpha1, oblivionknight7, grayangle, Jerry Unipeg, wordoftruthhunter26, Evilclone and ! for their positive reviews.

**Mano a Mano**

"So honor the valiant who die 'neath your sword,  
but pity the warrior who slays all his foes."  
- G'Trok, The Fall of Kang

**Deep Space Babylon, the Brig  
**His anger had cooled down in the hours spent in this cell. From a raging inferno consuming all reason it had turned into a smoldering heat coloring his every thought. These Starfleeters were insulting him, leader of the Warrior Caste, by letting him sit here waiting for them to come to him. And under all that anger and indignation shimmered fear. It had been him that had ordered and lead this disaster and his people would remember that.

But the waiting had come to an end, a human Stafleeter had approached the forcefield and was now observing him. The man wasn't tall, but made up for that in width. Red hair with streaks of gray on the sides told Shakiri that this was an older specimen. The hard look in his dark brown eyes indicated a warrior, an angry one. But he would not give the human the honor of speaking first and so they both silently watched each other.

It was the human who broke the silence. "You are Shakiri." It wasn't a question and so he didn't answer. "I am Captain Boris Santowitz of the USS _Salvador_. I came because we need to discuss a few things."

"If you have come to plead for your lives," Shakiri sneered, "you are too late for that. The only thing I may consider is granting you a swift death and even that is becoming unlikely."

Boris just looked at him incredulously. Then to either side, at what Shakiri assumed to be the devices maintaining the energy shield. "Hmm, I am pretty sure you're the one in a cell right now. I would be more concerned what we are going to do with you and your people."

Shakiri stood up. "You would not dare to harm me. You may have cheated yourself out of defeat this time, but the next time will be different!"

"A next time?" Santowitz exclaimed. "And here I thought we were allies. You really have a funny way of showing it. I am growing sick and tired of everybody here acting like a pack of thieves and bullies."

Shakiri's anger flared again at that insult. "How dare you insult us, when it is your people that have no honor. You can only kill a Minbari using sneak attacks, in open combat you die like sheep."

Boris pounced on his comment. "Of course, that is why you waited until everybody had left before coming here. Not only are you a thief and without honor, but you are also a coward! You knew our ships were vastly more powerful than yours so you waited until they were gone. Your ships are so antiquated that I don't know whether they should be used to haul garbage or be hauled away as garbage."

As Santowitz had spoken, Shakiri was choking on his rage as he didn't know which insult was more infuriating. This delayed his response, causing a rather ominous silence as the stunned Minbari watched the verbal duel between the two. "A Sharlin is more than a match for any of your tiny ships." Shakiri advanced as he spoke, as if this would add force to his words. "And once I am out of here I will prove it to you by destroying this station after turning those pleasure ships of yours into burning wrecks."

"Ha, you only say that because you're safely behind this security field." Captain Santowitz scoffed. "You would begin singing a different tune again if you ever managed to find your way back to a bridge."

"Let me out and I will prove it to you now that nothing can stand against a Sharlin."

"I will take you up on that offer. You and me, my _Salvador_ against your garbage scow."

"And the looser receives what is left of the other's ship. I need to be compensated for wasting my time."

"Fine by me, we have a shortage of paperweights here. But we will be using the holodeck to settle this. Not our real ships."

An unpleasant smile appeared on Shakiri's face. "Afraid to die after all, human?"

But the sneer didn't seem to faze him. "Not at all. But unlike you I don't want your crew to die because their commanding officer is an idiot. Without the safety protocols it will be just as deadly as the real thing."

"And it is easier to cheat, isn't it?"

But Boris just smiled. "I don't need to cheat. But if it makes you more comfortable then you can send two engineers to check everything and see to it that nobody can claim I won by cheating afterwards."

Shakiri was quiet, contemplating his options. "Very well, that sounds acceptable. But the fight will be public; I want the galaxy to see what happens to those that dare to cross the Minbari. Den'sha, to the death."

"It's your funeral. We can have the fight in two days, everything should be ready by then and you have enough time to compose messages to your loved ones. If you have any." Boris was already leaving, not even bothering to say goodbye.

"I will make you beg for your life before this is over, ver'min shok." Shakiri yelled. But he was not concerned whether he had heard him. This wasn't so bad actually, he might yet be able to turn this mess into a victory. It was fortunate that this human had such a temper. It had led him to make a foolish decision.

**Galen's Pinnace, Hyperspace**  
It was a gathering of sorts, situated around a small campfire near the remains of some kind of Neolithic monument. The hooded figures would be recognized throughout known space as technomages, feared and awed by billions. But they themselves knew fear as well and it had set them on their present course to parts unknown. But not every technomage, as the Circle had sent one back to keep an eye on things. Galen had been chosen because he was competent and he had an unhealthy penchant for interacting with outsiders.

Right now he gave his report on what had happened at Coriana 6, hoping that they knew more than he himself did about these Builders. But he was disappointed. The hooded figures looked at each other in silent communication before one spoke. "Events unfold differently than we had expected, differently than everybody expected. Most… unexpected. But your reports contain little detail about these newcomers, this so-called Starfleet. Go back and gather more information about them, we need to know where they come from and how they fit into this puzzle."

But Galen had his own thoughts on the matter. "I am afraid there is only so much I can accomplish by sneaking around. If indeed the Shadows and the Vorlons now face some threat, one that is sufficient for them to recall all their ships it might be more prudent to move more openly."

"You will do no such thing. We left for good reasons and this only affirms it. We will weather the storm in our Sanctuary. The problems of others are not our concern. And they are certainly not your concern, remember that."

And with that final warning the others left, leaving Galen alone under the stars. Then he himself returned to his ship. Here he felt safer to muse about the others.

He disagreed with them, the concerns of others would become their own. One way or another, they had closed their minds to the possibility of change. For people that were supposed to be wise they were surprisingly narrow-minded at a time were such a slow response could get you killed or worse. The Starfleeters weren't their main concern right now, it was the unknown.

And with that conclusion, he set a course for Vorlon territory.

**Babylon 5, Sheridan's Office**  
"Have you lost your mind?" Walker thundered. Turol had towed Whitestar One back under warp so that this situation could be resolved as soon as possible. Walker himself had just returned from Centauri Prime, the planet was still there so the Vorlons must have recalled all of their ships. But that was not the issue at hand. Captain Santowitz had just revealed to the gathered command staff of Babylon 5 and his fellow captains the results of his meeting with Shakiri.

The former EarthForce officers looked perplexed and Delenn looked as if she was being asked to walk over a rope spanning the Grand Canyon. Turol had raised both eyebrows at Boris his news but Walker had reacted furiously. "When we asked you to use your experience with the Klingons, we did not mean you should act like one."

But Santowitz took it in a stride, his confidence seemingly unfazed by Walker's reaction. "Calm down, I know what I am doing." The look in Peter's eyes said enough. "I saw the look in the eyes of that Shakiri character once before, when I met Gowron."

"Gowron?" Garibaldi asked. Walker seemed to be mulling over Captain Santowitz's words so Michael wanted to know whom this Gowron was and why this was so significant.

Boris began explaining. "Gowron was the Chancellor of the Klingon Empire during most of the Dominion war. He was arrogant, foolish and far too bent on glory. In the latter days of the war the enemy used a weapon to which only Klingon ships were immune. They were outnumbered 30 to 1 but Gowron kept wasting ships to discredit his best general because he had grown too popular back home." Santowitz's voice clearly conveyed what he thought of that.

"So what happened to him?"

"Commander Worf killed him in a duel and that same general succeeded him. And not a moment too soon, I might add."

Walker joined into the discussion again. "That was then, this is now. You're not a Klingon but a Starfleet officer and we do not go around issuing challenges or to fight duels to the death."

"I know that, but if we simply let Shakiri walk away he is going to try something again. And the next time he might do more damage then he did this time around. Now there may have been a better way of preventing that but I can't think of one."

"That still leaves the killing part."

"He said that, I didn't. I have no intention of killing him, just humiliating him so he won't have any influence left in his caste. I doubt he has the courage to slit his own throat afterwards so we won't risk making him a martyr. Just an embarrassment." Boris his grin was predatory.

But Delenn saw another problem. "And what if he kills you? Not only will that give him the technology he was after but it would also undo the loss of face he suffered when you captured him."

Both Walker and Santowitz looked as if Delenn had said that a mouse would beat a rhino. It was Turol that spoke. "That is extremely unlikely Ambassador. If Captain Santowitz was so negligent to allow that to happen he should resign his command. The _Salvador_ is more than a match for the _Dahrlien_."

A silence fell as they imagined that tiny ship beating a Sharlin. Sure, they had all seen what it could do against Drakh cruisers but a Sharlin was…a Sharlin. Sheridan pushed that aside--there were other concerns. "Be that as it may, the Minbari captain also demanded that the fight would be done in public. That would mean that word about the incident would leak out.

"Right now everybody is scared because they don't know what is going on. And now you want to put oil on that fire by having two of the major players of this alliance slug it out with each other because one tried to extort the other one? I don't like what Shakiri did anymore than you do but if you go through with this you might just put enough pressure on our alliance to crack it."

Boris his face was more serious now, as he tried to allay Sheridan's fears. "I know everybody is anxious because of recent events but rumors are cropping up already. Hett has managed to talk himself out of admitting that the Minbari attacked so far but eventually that won't do. And denying it will only feed the rumor mill I'm afraid. Besides, do you honestly trust Shakiri not to talk about this?"

"Damn, that's just great. I still don't think you should have done this. But as my father said, if you're falling off a cliff you may as well try and fly, you've got nothing to lose. But I am not comfortable relying on you to do the flying."

Boris nodded his head in agreement. "Understandable, neither would I if our roles were reversed." Then he turned and addressed Delenn. "I agreed with him that two Minbari engineers would go over everything to ensure everything is fair and the ships are accurate. I was hoping you could provide one of them, to ensure impartiality."

Delenn sighed. "I can arrange that. How are the Minbari trapped onboard the disabled ships?"

Turol took the question. "Commander Hett has ensured us they are well. They have been informed what will happen to them and emergency power will last until your own ships arrive. Only the _Me'lir Sil_ will not be able to leave under her own power as I have informed you earlier. The detainees are not happy with what happened but so far none of them have tried to retake the ship or commit suicide. Our sensors are monitoring them so we can stop them or beam them to sickbay if either case does occur."

"So we can't do anything to change what happened," Garibaldi summarized. "All we can do is warm up the popcorn and sell the broadcast rights. At least we will make a few credits out of the mess. But shouldn't we all be more concerned about what got the Vorlons and the Shadows," and Garibaldi emphasized that he was talking about both First Ones, "so exited that they all pack up and leave?"

"Not all of them," Walker remarked. "We still picked up a few stationed on Centauri Prime. No indication they were preparing to leave but you're right, we should be worried about what caused them to drop what they were doing and hurry back home."

"Couldn't you take a look yourself?" Captain Sheridan proposed. But Walker shook his head. "I don't want to risk it right now. Even for us Z'Ha'Dum is far away, it would take two weeks to get there. And we don't know what kind of defenses they got there, even the _Odyssey_ would loose against a fleet of Shadow ships."

"I understand, we will just have to keep our eyes and ears wide open." And make a call to Draal to ask him what he has picked up lately from that part of space. Sheridan knew that the Feds knew about the Great Machine but he wasn't ready to trust them with everything. Draal was his insurance if the old saying proved true after all, beware Greeks bearing gifts.

**Deep Space Babylon, Shuttle Bay 4**  
Katell of the Worker Caste was not just honored that Delenn had chosen him for this task. He was now also delighted. The atmospheric containment field alone, which he had observed in operation as the shuttle had delivered him to this station, made the trip worthwhile.

His counterpart of the Warrior Caste however wasn't interested in his surroundings. Katell had only met him after stepping on board this station but he already disliked the man. The Warrior may know how to keep a Sharlin functioning but he obviously didn't recognize quality work when it wasn't Minbari. Katell didn't have that flaw and he suspected that was partly the reason he got this task.

That and he knew the human language so he could operate the displays the Federations used. He doubted Ardain could. Two Starfleet engineers, one a human and the other was from a species he had never seen before, greeted them. Some of the more notable features of the alien were the three eyes and a transparent skull! He could see his brains in some detail thanks to the fact that they were twice the size of a Minbari's. The sight made him queasy and one glance to his side told him that Ardain wasn't much better.

The human was the one that spoke. "Welcome to Deep Space Babylon gentlemen." He didn't mention their obvious discomfort. "I am Crewman Gomerey and this is ensign Joday. If you have any questions feel free to ask away. And you can talk in your own language, the Universal Translator will do the translating for you. What do you say we get to work?" He didn't even wait to see if they followed, but there was no sense in just standing around here.

Katell was a little perplexed at the behavior and took the opportunity to ask questions to Joday who was walking besides him. An added bonus would be to see this translator of theirs in action. "Excuse me, I am afraid I am not very familiar with your hierarchical system but isn't an ensign higher in rank than a crewman?" Katell only noticed after stating his question that the words had been translated immediately. If his mouth hadn't formed the words, he would have sworn that he was speaking English. The translator even reproduced his voice perfectly.

Joday gave him a toothy smile before answering. "You are correct." He glanced at Gomerey who was happily talking to Ardain who in turn studiously ignored the crewman. "But as you may have noticed before he lacks some social skills so I let him do the greeting. He can use the practice. What is your name if I may ask."

Katell gave it and followed it up with a question. "I noticed the shield you use to keep the atmosphere in the landing bay, quite ingenious. Is it based on gravitational or electromagnetic principles?"

"Neither actually. Although gravimetric principles do play a role in its operation, the shield itself is not gravitational in nature." Katell now noticed something, Joday only blinked with one eye at a time. They continued on trading some tidbits about their respective ships. But neither one went into much detail as they didn't want to give away enough for the other side to get an idea on how to reproduce the technology. Katell found the discussion to be quite stimulating.

They ended up walking into a room that wasn't fitted out as he suspected it would be. It was a large, high room with a web of metal tubes attached to the walls. On their right, near the entrance, stood some kind of console with the controls faced away from them. "I take it," Ardain spoke as he looked around derisively, "that this is your so-called holodeck?"

"Yep, this is it. I thought it best to start with the Sharlin, see if I got everything right." Gomerey said this as he moved over to the console. But instead of using it to bring up this program, he used a vocal command. "Computer, load training program Sharlin-1." And around him the bridge of a Sharlin appeared, in every detail.

Even the air he breathed had changed in quality.

Next to him, Ardain was looking around desperately looking for some flaw but he could find none. Nor could Katell. He tentatively reached out to a nearby console to make certain it was a hologram. Instead of going right through it his hand landed on the crystals and it caused him to make a small sound that drew everyone's attention to him. Katell him. Katell whirled around, exclaiming, "I just touched it. How? You said this was a holographic simulation."

Gomerey frowned first in incomprehension before answering while Ardain now tested Katell's claim for his own. "Of course you can touch it. How else could you interact with it?"

"I was expecting a hologram, perhaps a pair of gloves to improve the experience. Not this." And he accompanied that lest sentence with a wave of left arm to encompass the bridge. Ardain was now testing other surfaces and even lowered himself slowly onto a chair to test it. "But at least the bridge seems to have been recreated in great detail, I cannot see any flaws here." He continued with a small laugh, "I cannot even feel any difference to the real thing."

"Excellent, I had one of the security officers who boarded your ships look at it too last night and she said the same thing."

Ardain was too busy with the chair to notice that unfortunate reference to the easy takeover of nine of his ships. "You mean to say that you made this before boarding our ships?" Katell asked incredulously. He had been certain that had been the reason for this accurate recreation.

"Yep, I finished this one about two months ago. I like to do this kind of thing for fun, recreating alien ships as holograms. You should see my recreation of a Promellian battlecruiser, I even managed to get a somewhat realistic crew on that one. I just love those old designs, they often don't have all the bits and pieces hidden away."

Katell didn't know what a Promellian was and right now that wasn't his chief concern. "Then how did you get the data you needed for this simulation?"

"From the sensor logs. I heard that it took them a whole hour to figure out how to get past that distortion field your ships are using." He added as an afterthought, "I was hoping you could take a look at that, I don't know if I got all the parts of that thing in the right position."

Katell just looked at him. Their best defensive system and these people just needed an hour to bypass it! A little dazed he responded, "I will take a look, I suppose it all works as well?" He was only half asking it.

"Just a second," and Gomerey tapped something on the console. The only thing that told the two Minbari they weren't really on a Sharlin. "I had to start the program or nothing would work. You can go ahead now, it's all in Minbari."

Meanwhile Ardain had stopped his testing of every surface in sight and had listened to the conversation going on between Katell and crewman Gomerey. He too had heard the outrageous claim he made and now he took it up where Katell had dropped it. Unlike him, Ardain would not accept bold claim like that from a human without pointing out that that it was an obvious lie. "That's impossible, there is no way your people could have developed a scanner capable of penetrating our stealth field without us noticing it."

Joday however now sprung to the crewman's defense. "Not impossible, I can assure you. How else do you think our transporters managed to lock on?"

Ardain now paled as he realized they weren't lying. At least not about penetrating their stealth field although he suspected it must have taken them longer then a mere hour. They must have had teams on the project for weeks and now thought they could make the feat even grander by downplaying the effort it took. But still, no amount of humans should have been capable of such a thing.

"I stand corrected," he grumbled and then frowned. "Does this simulation come with a crew or will Shai Alyt Shakiri have to bring his own with him?"

"Oh, it comes with a crew." Gomerey began working on his console again. "But I am afraid that I don't have enough data on Minbari culture let alone some detailed psychological profiles so they are still a little stiff. I was hoping we could do something about that before the big match." And on the bridge several Minbari from the Religious caste appeared. They immediately went to work, ignoring the real people.

Ardain ignored the demeaning reference to a fight to the death as a match for now. "Why are you using clothing from the Religious caste?"

"Hmm, oh my mistake. Just give me a second," a few more taps on the console and the clothing of the crew changed. They were wearing the same type of tunics now as Ardain himself. "Better, although I don't see what you mean by stiff. They look competent enough." Then Ardain flinched slightly as he realized that could be taken as a compliment for them.

Luckily Katell joined him now. "Well the schematics and readings all seem to be in order. Perhaps we could do a few tests to see how this simulation handles itself. Let's try the ship against a Drakh cruiser." He turned to Ardain. "If you could take command for this exercise, I am afraid it has been a while since I worked on board a Sharlin."

Ardain nodded and went to the command chair while Gomerey reset the program and selected the chosen opponent. "It's gonna be an encounter in real space and it will only be escorted by four raiders. That should even the odds."

Ardain now began to feel slightly nervous. The human was right in that such a force would be a challenge for a single Sharlin. Still, he had no intention of embarrassing himself in front of the Starfleeters or Katell by loosing. He issued orders as soon as the report came in that a Drakh cruiser had been sighted; the holographic crew never raised an eyebrow at him taking command. "Launch our fighters but tell them to stay within our own stealth field, concentrate our own fire on the cruiser and let the Nials take care of the raiders."

He now began to see what the human had meant by stiff. They carried out his orders efficiently but their replies were a little too formal and their eyes seemed somehow less than alive. His scanner operator called out as their adversary entered firing range. The Sharlin didn't waste time waiting and opened fire. So did the cruiser while the four raiders broke up into two groups going for a pincher movement.

The Drakh ship missed while the Minbari vessel scored a partial hit, not penetrating the thick armor of the motley brown ship. Now the raiders came into play, firing while Ardain's Nials were still out of firing range. They didn't aim for the Nials either. The stealth field operator now warned him. "Alyt, they are beginning to penetrate our stealth field." His warning was underlined by a shudder of the ship as one of the raiders landed a hit.

"Impossible, how?"

"They are coordinating their fire to determine where we are, I am compensating for it now but I don't know for how long this will work."

"Order the fighters to close in with the raiders and to take them out now." On the holographic screen he could see the pilots carrying out his order. And the raiders responding to the advancing Nials by turning around and fleeing back to the cruiser. That ship was still more or less intact despite several hits and it now shifted its weapons to target the fighters.

Their less powerful stealth fields proved useless and the surprised pilots didn't react fast enough. Several fighters died in the opening barrage and the rest now faced the raiders too. Ardain watched his fighters die and now felt the panic rise. He had forgotten this wasn't real and that there were people watching. "Load the missile tubes and target that cruiser." He didn't wait to see the last fighter butchered by the combined fire of two raiders. That the Drakh had lost a raider in return wasn't enough. "Fire!"

Six missiles streaked towards their target, counterfire knocked out four of them but the other two detonated against the hull of the giant ship consuming it in two raging balls of nuclear fire. The explosions also took out two raiders but the last one now came in on a suicide run.

Ardain redirected all fire to the small ship coming in with its gun blazing, only landing a few hits. In return the Sharlin unleashed its own weaponry upon the raider who consequently broke up. Unfortunately those pieces still had a momentum of their own and there was no time to fire again and break them up further. Ardain got a very good look of a large piece of one of the drive fins before it slammed into the bridge ending the simulation.

"It seems your depiction of a Sharlin is adequate." With those words Katell broke the silence. He had read the reports about battles between the Drakh and his own people. Given Ardain's lack of command experience, this was how one would expect the battle to unfold in reality. "But I would like to see the Starfleet ship that will be used as well."

"Certainly." Joday motioned for Gomerey to move over so he could access the controls. Then he gestured for Katell to see it for himself. "As you can see we will use our standard training program of the _Salvador_. It hasn't been changed in a few weeks as you can see here, we did that to update the crew roster and to put the improved jumpengines in we installed on the real ship."

"It seems to be in order, but I would like to take a look for myself."

"Be my guest." And Joday moved over to give Katell access. He hesitated before slowly manipulating the controls. His lack of practice with reading English made his progress slower but he didn't ask for help, instead he doggedly persevered. All Joday could do was wait, in case he had a question.

**Babylon 5, Zocalo**  
Peter Walker was waiting for Sandra to arrive. He had called her after that disastrous meeting about Boris and his foolish gamble. Invited her to talk things out in neutral territory. After the call he had berated himself for his choice of words. When he faced a Dominion battleship he was calm as could be but he fumbled for words when talking to a woman he cared about.

And that anxiety had settled into his stomach again as he waited for her to come. A minute later he spotted her as she calmly made her way towards him, her face a mask that hid her thoughts. Peter started with a smile to break the ice. "Hello Sandra, glad you could make it."

"I said I would be here Captain."

She called him captain, that wasn't a good sign. "We have been avoiding each other for more than a week now and I for one can't go on like this." He was interrupted by the waiter who wanted to take their orders. They gave them and Sandra waited until he was out of earshot before replying. "You weren't the one that got a bombshell dropped on him. How do you think I would respond after hearing the man I was dating is from another universe!"

Luckily she hadn't spoken loudly so Walker didn't think anyone else heard it. Maybe he should have proposed to do this on DSB instead of here. Ah well, too late for that now. "Actually, I can imagine. I know how I felt when I realized my crew was stranded here and that it could take us centuries to come up with a way home."

Sandra eyed him before answering. "I hadn't thought of that, but that doesn't change the fact that I don't know if we can go on. What if your people find a way to get you back home, what if you start falling apart because there is some kind of law of nature that doesn't allow you to stay here?" As she had spoken she had laid her hands on the table.

Peter grasped them as he answered. "I can't give you any guarantees about the first, but we know enough to be certain that the latter won't happen. And as for Starfleet finding a way to contact us, I don't even think they know where we went. Our sensors couldn't detect any traces of the anomaly after it had deposited us here and we knew where to look. My own science officer has told me that getting back home is beyond Federation knowledge at this time."

"So… you're stuck here for a long time." It was both comforting and saddening for Sandra. But she tried to keep that first part out of her voice and suppressed it. She couldn't go home right now too and although it was comforting to know that he could relate to that. It also saddened her that he had to go through a similar pain.

They were staring into each other's eyes for a while now when the waiter came with their drinks. For Hiroshi a steaming coffee and as usual a jumja tea for Walker. They both busied themselves with their drinks as they considered where to go from here. This relationship wasn't over but it wasn't stable yet either, there was still some uncertainty.

Peter decided to steer the conversation into a different direction for now. An important topic like this could be better discussed in a more private setting than this. At least now that they knew there was still hope. "You heard yet what Boris did?" Sandra replied that she had only heard a rumor about him insulting a Minbari. Peter grimaced as this proved that Boris was right, word was getting out. Then he launched into a story about what had taken place while they were away.

**Minbari Sharlin Warcruiser _Darhlien_, Epsilon III**  
Shakiri had received Katell and Ardain in his own quarters, eager to hear what they had seen and to hear if those Starfleeters had become worried yet over their imminent humiliation and the loss of one of their leaders. "You were there for several hours, I take it you were successful and that the fight will not be delayed?"

Ardain answered, as it was he who was a member of the Warrior caste. "We were successful, Shai Alyt. They had already programmed a detailed simulation of a Sharlin so we only needed to review it. We found no evidence for any duplicity or mistakes on their part. It seems they will attempt to win this fairly."

Surprisingly Katell picked up where Ardain stopped, with a glance to Ardain that told Shakiri that he had not been told everything Katell deemed necessary. "I feel you should be notified that they had gained the specifications of our ships by scanning them several weeks ago."

"What? That's impossible, they could never get such accurate readings through our stealth field. And not even that fanatic Lenann would be stupid enough to lower it here."

"Nonetheless, they have succeeded. I reviewed the records myself, they made the Sharlin simulation long before boarding our ships. And the way they did already tells us they must be capable of penetrating our stealth field with some accuracy."

Shakiri was silent as he realized that Katell was right. Defeating that smug human may prove more difficult than he thought. But only if he dragged out the fight, he would just have to blow the Starfleet captain up in the first minute instead of dragging out his suffering. If Valen smiled upon him, he may yet grant him the satisfaction of hearing Captain Santowitz pleading for his worthless life right before his ship got vaporized around him.

Shakiri had been entranced by his vision of his impending victory and neither of the two Minbari that was standing before him had the heart to interrupt his thoughts. But when Shakiri's eyes stopped watching the spinning debris in his mind and returned his gaze to them, Ardain spoke up.

"Shai Alyt, I should warn you that their holographic technology is… impressive." He spoke hesitantly, as if he wasn't sure he should say this but felt it was imperative that he did speak up. "They have the ability to make their holograms solid somehow. I humbly suggest you take the opportunity to test it out for yourself before the fight so it's realism will not come as a surprise for you then."

"It is that good?" Both Minbari nodded. Shakiri leaned back in contemplation. "Perhaps it would be best to see it for myself." He made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "You can go. But remember to keep a close eye on everything during the fight, they may think they can get away with a trick then."

Deep Space Babylon, holodeck 4 

He stood face to face with that arrogant human again. He had waited in front of this room on him so they could enter together. Shakiri was glad he had taken Ardain's advice and see this holodeck for himself, it had been a shock the first time he touched something that wasn't supposed to be more than a collection of light. It was then that he understood what the human meant with the simulation being dangerous without safety protocols.

Unfortunately, the human couldn't keep still. "You know it isn't too late for you to apologize."

But Shakiri maintained his icy demeanor. "For what? I have the power therefore I can do as I please. It is time you learn your place, human."

The Starfleet captain shrugged. "Suit yourself. Computer, load program Sharlin-1." And he vanished from sight, the room being replaced by the bridge of a Sharlin and several Minbari frozen where they stood. Neither participant would start the program, it would be done from elsewhere to prevent either one of them to gain an advantage.

He sat down in the chair, his body tensing as if he was going to fight the human hand to hand. Then a voice sounded he recognized as Ardain's. Ardain counted down and then the people around him came to life. Shakiri was already prepared for the warning of his scanner operator. "Alyt, I am reading a Federation ship 600.000 kilometers away dead ahead."

Shakiri didn't waste time. "Jump to hyperspace, then move towards this point." He tapped the coordinates the enemy vessel was most likely to be in a few seconds. "I want to jump directly above them. Tell the engine room that I want every drop of power they can squeeze out of it." He knew that the spectators could only see the outside of the ship. They would not be granted a view inside either vessel nor would they hear any internal communications. But he would give them a good show nonetheless. And an educational one at that.

VVV

Matar watched events unfold with some unease. He was the captain of one of the ships his government had assigned to protect Babylon 5 but he had never expected to witness this. Of course a recording of this was made and it would be forwarded to his superiors as soon as it had ended, but he wondered who would win.

A Sharlin wasn't invincible. He had seen how one of them was severely damaged during their battle with the Drakh to protect the station. And his own people knew you didn't need to make your ships so big to get a powerful warship. But one ship against a Sharlin? That Starfleeter must have great faith in his ship to make a gamble like that. He had wagered with Tumar that the Starfleet ship would loose, Tumar thought the performance of the _Salvador_ during the battle was proof it could defeat a Sharlin.

They would soon find out as the fight now began. The Sharlin was the first to move, opening a jump point and moving into hyperspace. The tiny ship didn't move at first but then it too moved forward, slowly.

VVV

Boris had expected this move, the Minbari captain wanted to close to firing range and possibly use that jump point tactic they were so fond of. He nodded to himself, time to show them what real stealth was. "Ensign Teral, change heading to 23-45 and engage at half impulse. Mr. Mendon, activate the cloak and keep an eye on the Sharlin. I want to know when she jumps back and where."

Now he would have to wait until they made their move. He had seen Minbari in combat now, so far they seemed to think as two-dimensional as most people tended to do during space combat. Santowitz grinned, just another mistake to be exploited. He didn't have to wait long until he got his warning.

Apparently Shakiri had some brains, he had jumped where he assumed Santowitz would be. But Boris hadn't moved away to create distance, he had moved up. "Turn us about. Ready pulse phasers at ten percent power and prepare to drop the cloak on my command."

VVV

He hadn't been where he assumed he would be. In fact, he seemed to be nowhere. The scanners couldn't find him. "Launch fighters, we wait here for him to come to us." Shakiri watched as his Nials formed up around his ship, covering those angles that this own ship couldn't reach with its weapons.

And that is from where the Starfleet captain attacked. Shimmering into sight right next to some of his fighters the tiny ship didn't waste time firing several bolts before veering off and disappearing again. His ship shuddered as the bolts impacted on the rear fins of his ship. "Damage report."

"They hit our jump engines, armor and counterfire didn't stop it. Containment seals have engaged but we lost some warriors. We only have one engine left."

"Tell the fighters to spread out more and a little further away. Don't wait for orders, shoot with any weapon you can train on it the moment it appears." That infuriating vermin'shok was acting like a tche-bug. Trying to sting him to death. But he only needed one swat to kill it.

Again the _Salvador_ appeared out of nothing, this time from the other side and between the fighters and the ship. And it continued to copy its first attack by going for the jump engines and then disappearing again. His weapons officer reported a hit but those accursed shields had kept them safe.

Then Shakiri hit upon an idea. "Order the fighters to randomly fire their weapons, we will do the same. Simply because they are invisible does not mean that we can't hit them."

VVV

Santowitz calmly observed the latest move of his opponent. He had to admit, the man could improvise but he was trapped by his own preconceptions. Unwilling to let them go even when they were proven wrong, repeatedly. He had planned on this, the tactic meant that the Nials had spaced themselves out even more to prevent any friendly fire incidents. "Attack pattern Beta two. Target all of their fighters on their starboard side."

His ship lurched into action, decloaking near their first target they vaporized two Nials while a third was gutted by their rear phaser array. His ship then made a sharp turn to go after another group which was now facing them, firing their own green beams at the _Salvador_. The neutron beams were ineffective, his phasers weren't.

But his attack hadn't gone unnoticed and now the other fighters charged in followed by the warship that was slowly picking up speed. "Time to play follow the leader. Ensign, change heading to 90-285 and match our speed to their fighters."

They were now pursuing his ship, some of the pilots couldn't wait and took potshots at him but they were too far away to be effective. He waited until there was enough distance between the fighters and the Sharlin before issuing the command. Then a glowing orb sped away from one of the _Salvador_'s aft launchers. Moving fast it homed in on the blue fighters.

They in turn tried to use their weapons to destroy the missile before it could reach them and one of them succeeded. But instead of neutralizing it, it went off. A wave of energy quickly engulfed the hapless Nials destroying them all. Even the _Darhlien_ felt the blast, but was not affected by it and stubbornly moved on.

VVV

The human was toying with him, picking off his fighter screen until only the _Darhlien_ and his diminutive ship remained. "We are being contacted by the Starfleet captain, Alyt." He could actually hear a tinge of fear echoing through the voice of his second in command. He was already winding up to berate him for this breach of his Minbari pride when he realized that the man wasn't Minbari. Just a hologram. "Put him on."

"Goodmorning, Alyt Shakiri." His voice sounded far too cheerful and Shakiri was glad this was an audio transmission. He was not in the mood to see his grinning face right now. Santowitz continued, "I thought it best to first ensure that it was just you and me. And that you wouldn't try to run."

"I am not the one that has been fleeing and hiding all this time, human. So far you seem rather eager to fly away from me instead of facing me. Only a coward would hide instead of facing his enemies openly on the battlefield."

"Really?" The Starfleeter stated rhetorically. "So only a coward would hide behind cloaking devices or stealth fields when fighting? Well I take it you are speaking from personal experience."

A red web of anger began to crawl over all his thoughts, constricting them. Guiding them into one direction, Boris Santowitz his agonizing death. He had fired Shakiri's own words back and he had done so in front of everybody. "Stop running from the inevitable and face me! My ship is going to smash through that oversized shuttle of yours like a hammer crushes an insect."

"We will see." And with that Santowitz closed the channel.

VVV

"We will see." And then Santowitz ordered the channel closed. The _Salvador_ turned around and was now racing towards the _Dahrlien_. Boris would have preferred to deploy the armor as well as his shields but he couldn't do that now. For one, it would make it look like he was actually concerned about Shakiri's firepower and it would make it impossible to beam that pompous fool up. "Divert auxiliary power to the forward shields, I want you to scrape the paint of that ship ensign."

The Sharlin wasn't slowing down as the two ships neared each other. Instead it fired off several missiles followed up by a strike with its beam weapons right before the nukes were to detonate. The effect was that they all hit simultaneously and the _Salvador_ wasn't evading any of it.

On his left a console blew, knocking the lieutenant manning it to the floor. It was enough to vindicate his decision to hold this in the holodeck. He wasn't going to risk any of his crew just to teach Shakiri a lesson he sorely needed. "Shields down to 74 percent, sir. Shall we return fire?"

"Negative, simply continue on course." They were going to fast for Shakiri to fire again as they were already flying past his hull. He was betting Shakiri was expecting to feel the ship shake from the impact of the _Salvador_. And then they were past it, still flying on full impulse.

VVV

He had thought the fight was over when that ship didn't even try to evade his attack. But it flew out of the inferno unscathed, its shields softly glowing. He had overcharged his neutron cannons for this strike so he couldn't keep the pressure up. He had miscalculated by thinking one strike would take care of the gnat.

Now his ship was turning as fast as it could in hopes of shielding its vulnerable rear before the _Salvador_ could take advantage of its current position. He had figured that had been the goal of the human's headlong charge right into Shakiri's cannons. But the tiny ship only turned around after the _Dahrlien_ had.

He was ready for them this time. "No missiles, rotate the neutron cannons so we keep a beam on them at every moment." He watched as his opponent once again entered firing range in a headlong rush towards Shakiri. He eagerly observed how green beams lashed out towards the ship. And how the first three missed as it nimbly danced out of their path.

His cannons scored an occasional hit but the _Salvador_ was moving to fast for his tracking computer. Again the ship skin danced past his Sharlin and again it kept on moving away until his own ship had turned about. He was getting the distinct feeling he was being played with. Mercilessly he crushed the feelings of fear that began creeping up. He would not loose to an inferior.

VVV

It was time to end this little game. Shields were now down to 69 percent and Shakiri might come up with something surprising soon if Boris kept doing this medieval jousting. "I think we have annoyed Shakiri enough. Mr. Mendon, target his weapons only. I want him disabled, not destroyed. Ensign Teral, on our next run I want you to veer off straight to port once we have destroyed all their weapon ports."

On the viewscreen he watched how the ship that reminded him of a blue angelfish got bigger. And how it once again tried to sink its teeth into his ship. But Teral expertly piloted the ship past the green beams while Mendon methodically began firing on their weapons. First were their missile tubes followed by their fusion lasers and the last to go were their neutron beams.

Teral didn't waste time and now banked the ship hard to port while the Sharlin aimlessly continued on. Shakiri was probably now wondering how he could fight on without weaponry. And like any good little fanatic he would hit upon the brilliant idea of ramming him. The only problems are that the tactic is obvious and his _Dahrlien_ is slower and less agile than the _Salvador_.

He ordered Teral to stop and turn them around so they would face the Sharlin that was slowing down too. He issued his final orders to Mendon and then opened a channel to Shakiri. This would be as much for those listening as it was to ensure Shakiri would try one last time to win. "Alyt Shakiri, by now I think you understand that you had no chance to begin with. My sensors could track you even when you were in hyperspace and they certainly had no trouble with your stealth field. You are lucky we don't like slaughtering the helpless, or DSB would have simply blown you away when you came like a thief in the night. Surrender and apologize for your dishonorable behavior and I will spare you."

Shakiri didn't respond immediately. "You will learn, Captain," he spat out. "That the Minbari are not to be trifled with." On his viewscreen Boris could see the _Dahrlien_ come around and begin its run on his ship. Shakiri himself coughed a few times before he could continue. His voice continued to rise as he shouted what he thought would be his last words in this life. "We don't give up and we most certainly do not surrender!"

But Boris replied calmly, "The choice was yours, now live with the consequences. Mr. Mendon, fire!"

And with that the channel was closed.

VVV

He had resigned himself to dying. But at least he would take that arrogant man with him. But his hopes were dashed when he saw two blue orbs being launched from the still stationary ship. He knew they were missiles like the one that had destroyed his last fighters. He was going to die alone, defeated by a human!

But right before they impacted the bridge disappeared and he was enveloped into a blue light. He recognized it and with a sinking feeling he realized his fate would be worse than death. Then he was on what he assumed to be the human's ship, an alien was training his weapon on him. But Shakiri simply let out a scream of inarticulate frustration and blinding rage.

Those watching the fight didn't see that. They only heard the last words of the Starfleet captain and saw how it effortlessly reduced the proud Minbari warship into a few smoldering pieces of polycrystalline with two missiles. The Starfleet captain had won and his ship didn't even have a scratch. That was plain to see before the view got cut off as the program ended.

In the holodeck the two opponents were once again facing each other. Shakiri's clothes were disheveled and streaks of soot covered his face. Boris looked like he taken a walk in the park, his half smile still on his face.

"I'll kill you!" Shakiri roared as he launched himself at the surprised Boris.

TBC


	33. Choosing sides

Author's notes: Seventeen reviews for the last chapter, a new record. Thank you, thank you for enjoying my writings. Not too much to say about this chapter except this, I hope you will enjoy this one as much as you did the previous one! As always I want to thank my betareaders for their quality work. Without them, this story wouldn't be so popular I wager.

And now for your questions.

johnlao: The line actually comes from a TOS episode where a Klingon manages to provoke Scotty into fighting using this line. I simply assume it has become a somewhat standard insult among Klingons in later days or was already one at the time.

oblivionknight7: Well, I do hope you're not talking about me.

Agent-G: Yes, this is the same Shakiri and he will make another appearance later on. As for Walker and Hiroshi, they get along great it's just that their relationship hit a rough spot which is now being smoothed over. And don't worry about nothing to read once this is finished, I got a sequel planned already to answer some questions left unanswered in this fic.

Andrew Joshua Talon: Thank you, I do try. As for the relation between hyperspace and subspace and why we don't see the batmobile armor and transphasic torpedoes in Nemesis, I shall answer that in future chapters.

Worker72: Oh, you will learn quite a bit about them in upcoming chapters.

Locathah: Sounds great, until you start asking yourself how much they would have to replace. The answer is everything from the armor to the power systems. Nothing of it is up to Starfleet specifications so in the end, they really could only use it as a giant paperweight or recycle it and use the resources gained from that to make an effective warship and not the oversized target that is the Sharlin.

I would further like to thank the above readers as well as StarfireGreencoon, The Sithspawn, rankokunalpha1, grayangle, Jerry Unipeg, wordoftruthhunter26, Evilclone, Fable and caspar21 for their positive reviews.

**Choosing sides**

'Beneficium accipere, libertatem est vendere.'  
- Publilius Syrus  
(To accept a favor is to sell your freedom)

**Deep Space Babylon, Sickbay**  
"Are you sure you mended every rib, Doc?" Boris Santowitz already looked a lot better than when he was brought in.

"No, I thought I would leave one broken to keep you from squirming," the hologram retorted. This caused Boris to snicker but that quickly stopped as it upset his sore body. The door slid open to reveal his two fellow captains, Walker looking worried and Turol looked as she always did. "How is he, Doctor?" Peter asked.

"He had three broken ribs and several fractured bones in his right hand along with a concussion. He also had numerous bruises and other minor injuries on his upper body but he should be fine in a few minutes. Although I recommend he takes some rest and light duties for the next three days to give the bones enough time to fully heal."

Walker nodded and now his face turned grim. "Now care to explain what happened between you winning the fight and when security found you bashing Shakiri's head against the floor?"

"The man assaulted me! He caught me off guard and then tried to kill me with his bare hands. He managed to get in a few moves before I subdued him."

"Subdued?" remarked Turol. "He was already unconscious when security entered the holodeck."

"I may have gotten a little carried away but I didn't started this, I just finished it." Santowitz sounded defensive.

"You could have known," Walker accused him, "that Shakiri wouldn't take his loss well. You saw how the man reacted after he found himself in a holding cell. But we have been remiss as well, we should have posted security officers outside the holodeck."

"I don't see Shakiri here so I take it he is being treated by his own people?"

Turol answered Boris. "Indeed, although they did not seem happy with their leader. Apparently it is more because of the repeated losses rather than his conduct that has diminished his standing among them. Some of them had begun to try and retake their ships, convinced we had played foul after all. They quieted down when they learned how Shakiri had reacted to his loss."

Walker picked up where Turol stopped. "Which leaves your part in starting this mess. I already talked about this to Turol, Captain. Are you prepared to face the judgement of your peers?"

Boris sighed. He had known that there would be consequences for what he had done. "I am ready."

Walker nodded. "Captain Boris Santowitz, for conduct unbecoming a Starfleet officer you will go without holodeck or replicator privileges for two weeks. We will both put a recommendation in our logs that a hearing be convened about this affair after we return home."

"I will accept it." He turned to the Doctor and asked if he was finished. After the Doctor had replied in the affirmative he stood up from the biobed. "In that case I better get back to my ship."

But Walker stopped him. "Have you forgotten the little wager you had with Shakiri? His Sharlin against your _Salvador_."

Boris stared at him, he had forgotten. "Well I have no use for a giant trophy, I will tell them it can be put to better use defending the Minbari people or something like that. Thanks for reminding me, I will settle the matter right away."

**Babylon 5, Ambassador Delenn's Quarters**  
They had watched the fight together here. Both had been amazed at how easily Santowitz had won. Sheridan thought that he should have guessed as much after seeing how sure all three captains had been that they would win.

Delenn herself wasn't thinking about what the loss meant for her people's rank in the cosmic order. She had other matters that needed a solution now. "I will have to go back home John."

"You're sure?" If she left for Minbar she would be gone for weeks. And he could use her support, her emotional support because things hadn't quieted down.

"Yes, I am sure. I knew tensions had risen back home but Shakiri's actions show things are far worse back home than I thought. When I broke the council to get help for the station I simply assumed that things would go on as they had done in the past. I never stopped to consider what our people were like before the council.

Her expression became even more troubled. "The ships I asked for to bring Shakiri's fleet back brought stories of their own about the situation on Minbar. The caste system is falling apart. So far it hasn't cost any lives but if we don't pull it back together again, there will be a civil war. So, I am going."

John knew he couldn't stop her. This was something she needed to do. "When will you be back?"

"I don't know, weeks at the least. Although I hope we can find a quick solution if the new leader of the Warrior Caste is more concerned about the welfare of our people than Shakiri has been."

"And when are you going?"

"Tomorrow morning." She took a long look at him before going on. "And when I am back, we will spend the night together."

John's eyes widened and he didn't know how to respond. Delenn just smiled, having a pretty good idea where his mind was going. "Not like that. You see, when Minbari become close, as we have become close, it is tradition that they spend three nights together. The male sleeps, and the female watches."

"Watches what?"

"During the day, we all put on the face we think will do us the most good. But at a certain point in your sleep, as you relax, your true face is revealed. If the female approves of his true face, she will stay two more nights and continue to observe."

"And what if she doesn't like what she sees?" He didn't think he was going to like the answer.

"Then they go their separate ways."

"Oh." What else was there to say?

"If he insists she stay one more night, she can leave when he falls asleep, file a complaint with the elders, even cut off his-" and Delenn paused watching the alarm grow in his eyes, "…access to her family."

He was strangely relieved even though he was sure he would never do that. Or she wouldn't do what he had thought she was going to say. But it wouldn't come to that anyway. "What if she does like what she sees?"

Delenn smiled mysteriously tracing a finger over his lips and chin. "I will tell you that, some other time."

**Epsilon III, Deep Space Babylon**  
Carolyn Sandersons was on her way back to her quarters from hydroponics. After she had decided to stay on this station for a while she also came to the conclusion that she wanted to earn her place here. Sure they didn't seem to mind that she stayed but Carolyn herself didn't want to feel like a guest that was being tolerated. She wanted to be appreciated for what she could contribute and so she ended up working with plants, which was fine with her since it afforded her some peace and quiet that any telepath needed from time to time.

Plants didn't have a mind of their own, so to speak. Which couldn't be said about her son, she just knew it would be a boy. You could already see a slight swelling but it would still be a few more months before she would be able to see his face. Odd that she cared so much already for a life she had never seen but not for the father of that life.

At first she had sought Bester out as a way to make life in the Rehabilitation Center a little more bearable but she came to see the human side he kept tucked away. Yes, she cared for the man but she wasn't blind for whom and what he was, a Psicop to the bone and she didn't want anything to do with the Corps for as long as she lived.

Her thoughts quickly turned to more enjoyable things when she saw the reason for the detour she had taken on her way to her quarters. She was accustomed to the bigotry she had to endure back home but after a few weeks here the poorly hidden distaste this young EarthForce officer felt around Carolyn brought out a vindictive streak out of her. So now she made an effort to bump into the woman at least once a day to say hello to her new neighbor and ask how she was doing.

"Hello Elise, I see you are being escorted by Kov again. How are you Ensign?" It was a subtle reminder that she was guarded while Carolyn, the telepath, was trusted enough to roam free.

"I am well, Miss Sandersons. I trust you and your offspring are in good health as well." Carolyn gave an internal headshake at that, there was something to say for Vulcan directness but there was such a thing as too much directness. She affirmed that everything was well with her and her baby after which she pointedly looked at Elise until she finally returned the greeting.

Ensign Kimmer herself was wearing her EarthForce uniform as always, although it was probably a replicated version and not her original one. "Well, I better get going. Have a pleasant evening Elise." And with that Carolyn left, Elise seemed distracted these last few days and that diminished the fun she got out of this. She wondered what had gotten to her so much. Could it be the abortive attack of the Minbari or perhaps the news that Vega had fallen?

**Centauri Prime, Imperial Palace**  
Cartagia, Emperor of the mighty Centauri Republic was feeling less than buoyant at the moment. After the heady realization that he was well on his way to becoming a god he began to fear what Mr. Morden's associates might do. He had assured them he would send ships, but he hadn't and although things had worked out in the end. Who could predict the actions of the gods?

And to make matters worse the Earthers were up to something. Every day for six days now those Earthers had seemed to prepare to launch an attack on the Vega system. But every time the Humans had turned back again which meant that either they were fearful to face the Centauri lion or they were setting up some devious human trap. Cartagia was sure it was the latter and so where his admirals. They believed it to be a diversion and that the Earthers would try to attack either Beta 4 or Sinzar in an attempt to threaten Vega.

So now he was sitting on his throne trying to enjoy the antics of the court jester, but he wasn't getting into it. But the interruption that came wasn't good either. The man hadn't even bothered to announce himself nor had anyone else warned him he was coming. But Cartagia didn't show his displeasure. "Ah, Mister Morden. How good of you to join us."

"I doubt it." His tone was insolent and he continued on as if he didn't care that the court was hearing this. "My associates were not pleased when your ships were missing from orbit, Emperor." The last word sounded slightly mocking. "But they have decided to give you a chance to right that little mistake."

"But the Vorlons never touched Centauri Prime." And Cartagia flinched internally at the defensive tone that ringed through that sentence.

"Yes and we know why." But Morden didn't bother telling the real reason. "My associates request that we tighten the bonds between our two people. They want you to send two thirds of your forces to Z'Ha'Dum, now." He emphasized the word now, indicating that any dallying would have unfortunate consequences. Unfortunate for Cartagia that is.

"But we are at war!"

"Not anymore, you will announce a truce with Earth Alliance. Something about having punished them enough or whatever reason suits you. We will ensure that they will not brake it, you can be sure of that."

"Redeploying our ships will take time, we…" But he was interrupted by a screeching sound coming from the right of Morden as a tall spider-like figure came into view. Its voice was grating and filled with power. "You will do asss you are told, or we ssshall find a replacement. Sssend the ssshipsss, we care not for your excusssesss."

Its appearance had caused several reactions. The guards had raised their weapons at the menacing creature, the court was in turmoil as people tried to flee or were too scared to move. The emperor himself however looked at it with amazement, reveling in the power that seemed to emanate from it. That was what he wanted. He didn't care if they were going to burn those ships, if that was the price to obtain such brilliance for himself.

He answered while he tried to control his laugh. "The ships shall be sent forthwith." And the guards lowered their weapons slightly seeing that their Emperor didn't seem to feel threatened.

Morden himself hadn't expected his master's action either, but now he smoothly picked up the conversation. "Excellent, several of the ships we stationed here will guide them to their destination. But don't worry, we will leave some here as an insurance." But he neglected to tell for whom.

But Cartagia was already thinking of the next problem. He couldn't let those that had been witness to what had transpired here today tell anyone else about it. He spotted the jester, slowly inching towards an exit. Cartagia grabbed the pistolette from the nearest guard and cleared his throat to get the man's attention. The jester died with a stunned expression forever pasted on his face.

He regarded the crumpled form on the floor for a moment before turning to Morden again, seemingly unescorted once again. "Humor is such a subjective thing, wouldn't you agree?"

**Earth, Earthdome**  
Clark was hard at work, like any true elected official of the public should. Not that he was that, elected by the people, but he couldn't count on them to make the right choices. That had to be done for them. No, the reason Clark was hard at work was because they were all out to get him.

That may have sounded a little paranoid, crazy even but Clark wasn't worried about his mental health. He knew that they were out to get him because of the evidence. Their own treacherous acts had revealed their plans, but he would get them first. First up were the Centauri.

He glanced at the clock, twelve more hours before the Centauri would get what they deserved. That was one of the few things that could make him smile these days. It wasn't a pleasant smile but Clark didn't care about that. Then his sights fell on the extra monitors he had let installed, one showing his ISN and the other showing that blasting VOR.

They had done everything they could to jam it, but apparently those Feds had managed to give Sheridan enough power to broadcast this throughout known space. When his forces had been forced to retreat from Vega ISN did the right thing and focused their attention on more positive aspects of his government. But not this Voice of Resistance, they somehow knew about what was going on at Vega and had simply told the galaxy what Clark didn't want to get out, the truth.

Then the monitor next to it changed to show that Morden was attempting to contact him, he didn't hesitate to answer it even if he would shoot his own brains out before ever trusting him or his associates ever again. "Ah, Mister Morden. And what do I owe the pleasure of this call for?"

Morden's smile was as slick as always. "I called because I can make your problems go away. Well, one of them anyway."

"Oh? And just what is it going to cost me so that your associates take care of that blasted station?" He retorted caustically.

Morden seemed taken aback for a moment, but recovered swiftly. "I was actually talking about the Centauri, I heard they have you on the defensive ever since this little war started."

"I can deal with the Centauri myself, I don't need help from you for that."

"That's too bad because the arrangements have already been made."

Clark stood up. "What?" Clark couldn't believe it. They couldn't do this, not to him. He was President of the Earth Alliance that surely had to count for something.

"Cartagia will announce a truce in about four hours and naturally you will accept it. Better call of that little assault you were planning."

Shocked Clark sank back down on his chair. They knew about top-secret plans, plans that even Sheridan didn't seem to know about. Morden seemed to ignore his shock, he probably had counted on it.

"My associates can't tolerate this little skirmish in light of recent events, they require you to focus your energy elsewhere."

"What?" Clark didn't care that he sounded repetitive, the situation was changing fast and there were more important matters than his seeming ineloquence.

"They need some of your ships, to be specific all of those destroyers you modified with their technology, to be sent to the Signet system where they will receive further orders from a contact there."

Clark just stared at him, he couldn't be serious. "Are you insane? I can't send so many ships without compromising our borders not to mention my position."

Morden lost his smile. "You would do well to remember who got you to your position Mister President. It's time to repay that debt. Those ships have to be there in four days."

Clark now thought fast, apparently something wasn't going well for Morden's associates and now they needed help. But he had no interested in repaying any debts and if they couldn't do anything for him anymore, then their agreement needed reevaluating. But he wouldn't tell that to his face and given Morden's apparent knowledge of EarthForce secrets he would tell the truth or at least a part of it.

"I am afraid that will be impossible in that timeframe." Forestalling any protests he swiftly continued. "As you know we have had some technical difficulties which we are only now ironing out of the design. They will all need some time in dock before they will be ready, say two weeks."

As Clark suspected Morden didn't like the delay but couldn't say so without showing how weak their position had gotten. Strangely enough he seemed to be listening to someone else, although Clark couldn't hear anything, before replying. "Very well, we can wait that long but they better be at Signet in two weeks Clark." And with that he closed the channel.

But Clark couldn't care less about the insolence of Morden's parting words. Clark saw opportunities although there was danger too. He pressed a button so he could talk to his secretary. "Find General Lefcourt and tell him I want him in my office as soon as possible."

VVV

General Robert Lefcourt came into the room at a brisk pace, he wasn't going to let the President wait. Like Fontaine he was a veteran from the Minbari war but unlike him he was loyal to the office, not the man. He had taken an oath and he would follow it, no matter what he thought of the man that occupied it at the moment. And right now he didn't even dare to voice any objections about Clark anyway, every officer in the fleet had heard what had happened to Sundararajah. He wouldn't let anything like that happen to his family.

"Mister President, you wanted to see me?"

Clark looked at him for a moment, seemingly weighing him. "Yes, I did. In the last hour there have been some developments which allow me to direct our attention at more important matters." Lefcourt didn't respond, he had no idea what he could be talking about.

"You see, I have negotiated a truce with the Centauri Emperor and it will go in effect in three and a half hours or thereabout." Lefcourt looked up at hearing that. "Not that I trust them, not after they broke our treaty so blatantly but it will give us the chance to prepare and get everything in order in our own house."

"But why would they accept a truce, they have been on the advantage lately?"

"Apparently they need their ships elsewhere, unconfirmed reports say that the Federation has made its move and they are starting with the Centauri." Lefcourt hadn't heard anything about that but the President had access to information and sources he didn't have. Like every other officer he had been briefed about the capabilities of a Federation warship and quite frankly, they sounded even worse than the Minbari.

"But that is not why you are here. I understand you taught Sheridan at the academy." That offhand comment caused Lefcourt to blink. He wondered where this was going. "I had that honor."

"And that is one of the reasons I want you to go to Babylon 5 and try to convince Sheridan and any other mutineer to come back." Robert hadn't expected that, but then again this meeting had been full of surprises already. But he had to wonder how he would pull something like that off. He was a soldier, not a diplomat. But the President wasn't finished.

"I also want you to try and find out more about the Federation, I will sent someone along to help you with that. If you could repatriate one of them that would be even better but whatever you do, don't start an incident. We can't afford one at the moment."

"Understood sir, but wouldn't someone with better diplomatic skills be more preferable?"

Clark smiled. "On the contrary, I think you are far more suited for this task. That uniform will be a little reminder to them that they are trying to take on EarthForce, the same fleet that crushed the Dilgar." And lost to the Minbari, Lefcourt added mentally but he was wiser then to actually say it. He had seen how Clark closed his fist as he had spoken.

"You will get more detailed orders later, just get ready as swiftly as possible. The _Heracles_ has just finished its refit and will bring you to B5, another reminder for the defectors."

VVV

Clark thought the conversation over, it had gone well even though he had come up with that lie about the Federation on the fly. Still, it could be used as an implicit excuse for the truce. Simply let ISN report that the Centauri were having difficulties on their other borders with an unknown race and in an unrelated report that EarthForce were concerned about the increased threat of the Federation. He would let rumor do the rest for him.

Yes, that could work quite nicely. Time for a meeting with the Minister of Information.

**Babylon 5, Londo's Quarters**  
So many changes in so short a time. The Vorlons and the Shadows no longer rampaged through the galaxy, the Minbari had been humbled and now he had his job back. He was ambassador once again, his first job was announcing a cessation of hostilities between the Humans and his own people. He was also told to try and placate their other neighbors and keep them off the Republic's back at least for the coming months.

There was something going on and he got his confirmation of that half an hour later when a different call came from Centauri Prime. "Admiral Cianti, what do I owe the honor of this call to?" He knew him of course, from the raid on Phalos XII as Cianti had lead that attack. But that was the last time he had any dealings with the man.

He looked worried although that could simply be because his face seemed to be stripped of any fat. But Londo knew the man looked like that even at Phalos.

"I will tell you in a minute, this line is secure?" An odd question, of course it was secure as was any official communiqué. Which must mean that this was something other than official so Londo decided to use his private encryption codes. "It is now, of that I can assure you."

"Good, because what I am about to tell you could get us both killed if anybody on the homeworld learns I told you this."

"Then why tell me at all, hmm?"

"Because you're not on the homeworld Mollari. You heard the rumors about the mental health of our Emperor and I can tell you they are true. I know you have been informed that our war with the Humans is over but what you don't know is why."

Londo tried again in an exasperated tone. "But why are you trusting me with this?"

A slight smile now graced Cianti's face. "Because I have been keeping an eye on your progress and you are still a patriot, like me. And you are not under so much intense scrutiny as people of influence on the homeworld. Cartagia ordered the execution of everyone that has attended court yesterday but a few bits of information leaked out before that. I am passing them on to you and I want you to use your contacts for the good of the Republic."

"Cartagia did what?" Londo yelled in disbelief.

"It's true, they are all dead but that isn't important."

"Not important! Do you know how many houses have just lost a son, a daughter or even their Lord or Lady?"

"Quite a few, but Centauri stands to loose a lot more sons if nothing is done. Our Emperor concluded an agreement with some unknown race a few weeks ago and now these aliens have practically ordered Cartagia to send two-thirds of our fleet to their homeworld. That's the reason for the truce."

'Oh Great Maker.' Mollari had a sinking feeling about what race he was talking. He had thought that after breaking his ties with Morden he would be safe but apparently the man had simply sought a higher authority to seduce. "The name of that planet wouldn't be Z'Ha'Dum?"

Both Cianti's eyebrows rose. "Yes, that is the name Emperor Cartagia used. I was one of the admirals who have been given the task to manage the redeployment. Fifty ships have already been sent but we need those ships here and not there!"

"I doubt we will see any of those ships again. Reports are that the Shadows, that is their name, have some kind of unexpected problem at home, which caused them to call back all their ships. The Vorlons seem to have the same problem. But we cannot do anything about this, the Emperor has given an order."

Cianti leaned back, half talking to himself. "So that is why they didn't attack."

"Attack? Who attacked?"

"The Vorlons appeared in our system with one of their planet killers but they retreated before actually firing a shot. Cartagia ordered our ships not to engage them! And that action combined with this was the last straw, the Republic won't survive this Emperor if he stays in power much longer."

"You are talking about betraying the Emperor." Londo didn't know why he was so shocked, he already felt that the conversation would go this way a few minutes away.

"I am talking about saving the Republic! But too many think like you do, there are only a few that feel as I do. I am loathed to say this but this redeployment would actually aid us with that, I will make certain that the most loyal to Cartagia are sent first."

"Us? I have not agreed to anything yet." Yet? Was he actually considering this?

"I can understand you need time to think this over and verify my information for yourself. I can contact you again in a week on the same time to," and now his voice sounded a little humorous," reminisce about our past glory like two old soldiers are infamous for. But do consider this Londo, the Centauri people make the Republic and not the Emperor."

The screen switched to the standard screensaver showing the Babylon 5 logo but Londo was staring into space, weighing his options. He had thought of something that Cianti might have overlooked in his worry to save the Republic. What if those ships sent to Z'Ha'Dum angered whoever gave the Shadows so much trouble?

TBC


	34. Undercurrents

Author's notes: I am releasing this one now because tomorrow is my birthday. What does that have to do with anything? It means I won't be online tomorrow and I wanted this chapter to be my gift to you. As always I want to thank my betareaders for their quality work.  
And now for your questions:

Agent-G: A new ship? Have you been reading my… Never mind. I know nothing, I mean you know nothing. As for the fighter squadron, yes DSB has one but the comedy relief will not come from some rivalry between the respective flyboys. Or perhaps I should say flypersons, no my comedy will jump you from behind when you least expect it.

As for the Darhlien, that ship is already on its way to Minbar along with Delenn. I forgot to include that in the chapter but I think I will try to sneak a mentioning of that into the next one. I like your idea but it will not happen in this story, I already have enough on my plate without adding more support characters to it.

The Sithspawn: Clark isn't stupid, he knows that a war against the Centauri would seriously drain his resources and on top of that the Centauri were winning so far. To Clark, this is a breather he can use to rearrange his pieces and recover some losses. You should see Lefcourt's mission in that light.

Elim Garak: Wow, criticism. Constructive criticism even. Boris actually did do something since I am quite certain that dueling isn't allowed. But apart from that, it's not exactly the Starfleet way to defuse an explosive situation by challenging a hostile leader to a duel to the death now is it? So yes, Boris is guilty of conduct unbecoming a Starfleet officer and he got a slap on the fingers to remind him of that.

Tense problems, they did occur in my preliminary draft of this chapter but I am certain I got them all before posting.

Too fast, actually it is going to slow. I thought I would have finished the story by now but I keep adding things. This story is about the Builder War and that only started in chapter 29. The rest is prologue, stuff I needed to set the players were I wanted them. In essence, the story I wanted to tell when I began writing began in chapter 29!

X-Over: Yes, Cartagia is fast becoming quite impopular. As for Clark, without an obvious external threat EarthForce will begin to splinter again as more and more people realize what the EA is turning into. So Clark has to find a way to counter that and the Federation may just offer the perfect scapegoat.

shenandoah flowers: That is because I was inspired by that story. I liked it but found that I wanted it to go a slightly different direction. Just like Skeet's other story A Thin Veneer which also has inspired some to write their own take of a ST/B5 crossover happening during the Minbari war.

Part of my desire to get a different story than Skeet led to my invention of the Builders, originally I was toying with the idea of the Third Space aliens who would be granted access to normal space again in the Starfleet ships failed attempt to get back home. But I moved away from that idea and instead came up with the Builders which in turn led me to come up with the cough. Oh wait, that is a surprise.

I would further like to thank the above readers as well as StarfireGreencoon, Worker72, rankokunalpha1, grayangle, Jerry Unipeg, wordoftruthhunter26, Evilclone, Bien Canonizado and andromeda rocks for their positive reviews.

**Undercurrents**

"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government."  
- Edward Abbey

"The reason why the Centauri accepted the cease-fire is not known for certain although many believe it is due to the massive losses they suffered in their struggle to conquer the Vega system." As she spoke, the view changed to showing several short clips of Centauri ships getting pounded before going back to her again. "But sources in the government claim that the Centauri have problems along other borders, although even they cannot tell which border and with whom that is."

The woman now turned slightly to face another camera, the view now more focussed on her. "We will be showing you a special report in a few minutes concerning a topic that was steeped in mystery until now. The United Federation of Planets, which made its first appearance on the galactic scene several months ago." Her following sentence was accompanied by images of the _Oddyssey_ and the _Thunderchild_ firing on Omega destroyers. "They supported the rebel John Sheridan who had hijacked Babylon 5 and killed many loyal EarthForce personnel who had come to reclaim it."

"Since then we have reported about their stated goals and policies and how these often clashed with the truth. We have seen how they abused their advanced technology to oppress their human population, talked to people who witnessed some of the cruelties they committed here. But what about their origins? Where do they come from and should we be worried?"

"These are questions we too struggled with here at ISN but we finally found the disturbing answers. And now we will share what we discovered with you in our special report titled "The Federation: A wolf in sheep's clothing". As always we only report, the viewer decides."

**Deep Space Babylon, Holodeck 5  
**"So, what is the program for today?" Garibaldi asked. A major reason he agreed to this joint exercise was because it would give him an idea what kind of threats Starfleet had to deal with. You could tell a lot about people from who there enemies where. If only how big their guns were.

"I will let the computer make the choice, but it will be a level nine threat at least. We will start onboard the _Odyssey_ and will be asked to render assistance to Deep Space Babylon which has been boarded by our opponent of this exercise. I will give you a short briefing about them once I know what we will be facing. We will suit up before the exercise begins, this isn't a readiness exercise."

At that moment they both hear the whir of the holodeck's door opening and their respective security personnel filing in. Iceren observed that there were several Narns among the B5 contingent and wondered why that was. Meanwhile Garibaldi measured up the Starfleet contingent and noticed immediately that while they too were standing at attention, the Starfleeters did so more casually than his own people. Except of course the Vulcans, but by now he knew they always carried themselves a little stiff.

Garibaldi now began the pre-exercise briefing, short as it was. Most of them already knew about how the holodeck worked but Garibaldi went over it regardless to make sure. Despite the fact that the Starfleeters must already know this none of them showed their boredom openly and maintained an attentive posture. "And that's it, but I want you all to treat this as if it is real so no stupid stunts and follow orders." And he made sure to look at the Narns as he said that. He still remembered what had happened with that breaching pod incident.

Iceren didn't waste words. "Computer, load security exercise program DSB 29." And with that the armory of the _Odyssey_ appeared around them with a few alterations. Because some of the Starfleet equipment in the racks had been replaced by EarthForce ones. None of them needed to be ordered to suit up but the order was given anyway and they all swiftly donned their gear. 

Iceren surveyed them before ordering the computer to start the program. The first sign it was running were the blaring alarms and red flashing lights. Then the voice of Captain Walker could be heard. "Mister Iceren, we just received a distress call from DSB. The Borg have attacked the station, they managed to destroy the ship but not before several drones managed to beam into the station. The drones have been confined to one section so far but station security isn't certain they can remove the threat by themselves. You will render assistance. We will be there in two minutes. Walker out."

Michael had watched Iceren's expression as he heard what they would be facing and he didn't look happy. As a matter of fact, none of the Starfleeters did. He could here on of them mutter that it couldn't get any harder to which another one replied that it could be worse, that they could be ordered to infiltrate a cube. He saw how the first speaker nodded his head in agreement but Garibaldi wondered what a geometric shape had to do with anything.

His attention was dragged back to Iceren that had started explaining what they would be facing. "The Borg are a cybernetic race whose main goal is to achieve perfection. They want attain that by assimilating other races their technology and link the population to their hive mind. Of course these will be holograms but this is a realistic scenario. These are beings you could be facing one day." That certainly got Garibaldi's attention but Iceren went on.

"They rarely use ranged weapons, but they do have an energy shield which will adapt to your weapon after a few shots. And make no mistake, every drone will be immune to it after that. What one drone sees or experiences they will all know. Don't try to go hand to hand with them because they are stronger than most humanoids and it will give them the opportunity to inject you with their nanoprobes, which will begin the process of assimilation. Once that happens, the best we can do is shoot you while your mind is still your own."

That certainly grabbed the attention of his people, McCaulin even raised his hand. "You mean, there isn't a cure for that?"

"Of the hundreds of thousands of Federation citizens that have been assimilated over the years, we only managed to get two back and those were extraordinary circumstances." He could see the unease spread among his people, they had subconsciously assumed that nothing could actually threaten these people. But Garibaldi already knew there was always a bigger wolf out there.

VVV

Michael felt as if he was stuck in some horror movie and he wasn't alone. He had heard McCaulin mutter something about "Space Zombies" after they ran into the Borg the first time. It had started relatively well. They got past the forcefield that these things had erected rather easily thanks to the personal force fields every member of Iceren's team wore. The hallways they were now walking through weren't Starfleet design anymore. The green lighting along with the rise in temperature and humidity had begun affecting the human part of his team. The Narns on the other hand seemed to have no problem with the change.

The first drones went down without a fight as well, seemingly not paying attention to them until they opened fire on the pale creatures. Then came the first wave, Garibaldi had no other way of describing it. The drones just came at them, walking calmly with their eyes seemingly looking past them. They didn't make a sound except for their mechanical parts. Even when they were shot they kept silent and their compatriots didn't pay any notice to the fallen.

The second group that attacked wasn't stopped entirely by phaser fire and Michael saw the shield he was warned about. Green seemed to be the Borg favorite color because that was the tint of the shield that hugged the torso of the last two drones that were hit. Garibaldi didn't waste time and ordered his own people to step to the fore and open fire. But they didn't go down easily, that suit acted as some kind of armor and it took several direct hits before they toppled over.

They took a brief rest there, his men and women puffing in their heavy armor while the Starfleeters raced to recalibrate their own rifles so they were useful again. The Borg however didn't take a rest and he was now facing yet another group although it was the smallest one yet. But this was offset by the grizzly image of a partially modified Starfleet officer walking among the group, a human one.

She still had her hair and most of her uniform except the right sleeve, but that was probably so that they could install the prosthetic that had replaced her arm. Her skin was pale with gray veins like the other drones and her left eye was replaced as well. Even though this wasn't real, Michael was certain he would end up with a nightmare or two from this experience.

Garibaldi took her out himself, but the Borg were now beginning to adapt to their PPRs as well. One drone kept on coming and concentrated fire from his squad wasn't doing anything to stop it. The chief of security ordered them to hold their fire and was about to order them to switch to their PPGs. But Yal'Far and another Narn took matters in to their own hands just like had done so a few months ago and stormed at the drone.

Using the butt of his rifle Yal'Far struck the chest of the drone but it only staggered back a step. Michael remembered that Iceren had warned them about the Borg's physical strength and he was obviously not exaggerating. With his right arm the drone backhanded the Narn away who fell to the ground. The other Narn now tried to use his rifle as a club but the drone grabbed his arm and then brought his right hand to the Narn's neck. He could see the two tubes bridging the gap between the Narn's neck and the drone's hand but it was already too late.

As the Narn, his name was Tu'Karn Garibaldi finally recalled, slumped to the ground the drone turned his attention to the still frozen EarthForce security personnel. But a phaser beam struck him in the chest before he could take the first step. Iceren broke the shock still gripping the other team, "It works, well done Koss."

VVV

They were trapped! First a shield had appeared in front of them quickly followed by one behind them. Garibaldi had forgotten that it wasn't real for a moment back when he saw those gray veins spreading over Tu'Karn's face but that same panic reared its head again this time. From both sides drones now calmly walked towards them and those blasted shields didn't just pin them down, it prevented them from shooting at the Borg as well.

"Got any ideas?" He asked Iceren. This was still a Federation station and that had to be usable somehow. Michael hated loosing. "I have several, Mister Brink open that access panel and see if the controls for the plasma conduit are behind it."

Iceren didn't waste time and continued issuing orders as Brink swiftly knelt and began removing the panel. "Ayal, Koss and Nevares link your shields to form a wall right here."

"What exactly are you going to do?" Garibaldi's question was followed up by Brink's shout that he had found the controls. Iceren spoke loud enough so everyone could hear him. "We will manually close the conduit running along here, I am hoping that the Borg have compromised the safety systems and will not be able to reroute the excess plasma before the buildup causes the conduit to explode somewhere in front of us."

Iceren now turned his gaze to Brink. "Close it off." Now that was a gamble and wouldn't the shield the Borg had erected stop the plasma? Not to mention that the plasma would block their way as effective as the shield was doing now. But at least some of those zombie rejects would be taken out by it.

They could all hear a high-pitched whining sound before sparks began to come from the plasma flow controls. And now Garibaldi worried more about the possibility that the breach would occur where they were. Taken out by exploding plasma conduit was a lousy way to loose a fight.

But the explosion occurred to the right of them, where Iceren had said it would. Michael could see the gas-like substance filling the hallway before spilling over the drones that were left standing. Then the liquid cloud reached the Borg shield but continued on without incident before crashing against the linked shields of the Starfleeters. Apparently that conduit took out whatever was generating the shield on that side, but not the other as he could now see the first drones walking through it.

They were met by phaser beams that struck down the first two but the third one remained unharmed, the Borg had once again adapted. Once again Yal'Far came into action using his rifle as a club, but this time he stepped to the right as he swung the rifle back in preparation for the strike. The drone's head turned with him and McCaulin used the opening to ram his own rifle into its face and firing it as it struck flesh. The drone, it was some kind of alien with a ridged forehead, staggered back and fell against a drone coming up behind him.

That one caught the stumbling drone but proceeded to cast him aside before advancing again. His own people now fell back, unsure whether that would work again. All the while Iceren had kept his gaze to the part of the hallway filled with plasma, plasma that was now gone and he didn't hesitate for a second. "The hallway is clear, everyone move forward now!"

They all rushed down the passageway, momentarily leaving behind the Borg who didn't seem to know how to run and Garibaldi was glad for that. They rounded the corner where Iceren motioned for everybody to stop. He then proceeded to peer back around the corner to see where the drones were now. He took something out of his belt what to Garibaldi looked like a grenade, which he threw into the corridor.

Soon an explosion could be heard and Iceren nodded to himself in satisfaction. "Now, shall we finally get to that generator and end this exercise. It is getting rather hot here."

VVV

They had done it. The generator was off and with it the shield surrounding this section. In a minute or two the transporters would get a lock on the drones and they would have won. Unfortunately the Borg were trying to use the remaining time to get at said generator so they could turn it back on. So they were stuck defending it, him and two of his own people were covering the entrances with phaser rifles while the Starfleeters were busy trying to come up with a calibration that would work for the other rifles.

So far they were holding out, none of the drones so far had used any kind of weapon and they weren't taking cover either. Coupled with the fact that none of the entrances would allow them to enter two at a time they didn't stand a change.

Then he heard a noise and he saw some kind of green energy bolt impacting McCaulin, knocking him over. Michael whirled about to where he figured the shot came from. The catwalk above them they had checked, the catwalk that didn't have any entrances or so they thought. And they were mistaken because there stood one drone with his right arm extended.

An arm that was now pointing at him and a green bolt left it from his wrist. But it impacted the place where he stood a second ago and Garibaldi had already aimed his rifle. It hit dead center on his torso, stopped by a green shield. "Damn", he swore as he scrambled for cover. He followed it by a yell calling everyone's attention to the armed drone that was calmly picking its next target.

Another beam hit the drone as it fired too and the phaser strike was equally ineffective. The green bolt wasn't and Koss was knocked over. He saw Iceren and a human Starfleeter working on a rifle, but it was clear they hadn't found a solution yet. And this one drone was just a distraction, a group of Borg were also coming from the entrance opposite to the armed drone. They were down to hand-to-hand fighting there and Michael already knew that the Borg would win that.

"F'nor, get up that catwalk and take out that drone", he ordered. F'nor was the one closest to a ladder and the drone couldn't get to the Narn from where it was standing now. He had already taken out several drones with the knife he was brandishing but those Borg hadn't been armed. He would need a distraction.

But it proved to be unnecessary, as every drone dissolved in a pillar of blue lights that vanished in a second. They had won! The program now shut down, the room dissolving around them except for the ladder that F'nor was climbing but it too dematerialized as soon as the Narn had gotten off.

Michael just got up and took a deep breath of the refreshingly cool air that was now washing over them. He looked over at Iceren and saw he too was enjoying the cooler environment. They had to wait on their "casualties" to get here before they could start the debriefing anyway so this was the perfect time to ask a few questions that Michael had.

"So is this an average training or did you decide to go all out for your guests?" He asked the white-haired Lt.-Commander.

"I must confess, Mister Garibaldi, that this was a slightly more difficult exercise than usual. But by no means the most difficult I put my people to." The seriousness of the remark convinced Michael he wasn't downplaying anything, nor exaggerating.

"And how big is the chance we are going to get to meet these guys in the real world?" He didn't think it likely, the Starfleeters had managed to master hyperspace travel in a few months but hadn't come a step closer to getting back to their own universe, as far as Michael knew anyway.

But Iceren seemed to hesitate. "I don't know."

"You don't know!" Garibaldi exclaimed. "How can you not know?" Heads were turning but nobody would try to listen in on a conversation between their respective superior officers. Still, Iceren kept his voice down.

"We don't know exactly how advanced the Borg are and they keep assimilating new knowledge as well. We do know they have been to other dimensions but we don't know whether they also make forays into other realities. And then there is the possibility this reality has its own version of the Borg."

Garibaldi didn't know what to say to that, his mind already conjuring up several horror scenarios. Iceren could tell it too. "It's a big galaxy, Mister Garibaldi. And there are as many wonders out there as there are terrors."

Dragging his mind away Michael decided to change the subject. "You heard the rumors?"

"About what is going on in Vorlon space?" Iceren guessed.

"Yep, something is going on there and it doesn't look like the Vorlons are doing well."

"No way to tell from the reports we have so far. All they say is that there have been odd energy emissions inside their territory and the occasional sighting of a few Vorlon ships all moving towards that area. So far, the Vorlons seem to be holding their own."

"Which means trouble, the Vorlons are supposed to be the most advanced race on the block and it has the biggest fleet around. No, sooner or later that trouble is coming to the station, it always does. I am thinking we should make these exercises a more regular event. My people can use the preparation and we both need to know how the other operates. The same goes for situations like we had with that Minbari fleet. We need to start making some clear agreements on how we handle that kind of problems in the future."

"Agreed, but you will have to take this up with Lieutenant Bangzhu and Commander Hett. They are the ones in charge of this station's security." As Garibaldi nodded the holodeck's doors opened, they could finally start the debriefing.

**Babylon 5, Londo's Quarters  
**Londo was staring at the screen. He had spent these past days talking to people on the homeworld mostly but also a few that were currently off-world like himself. After his unofficial reinstatement as ambassador they dared to talk to him again and Londo felt secure enough now to call them.

And the picture that he got from this didn't make him happy. He had actually met Cartagia before, twice as an infant and once when the boy was 15. He had seen him trying to peek up the dresses of some young women that last time. And from what he had heard in these past few days, they would all have been better off if he had stuck to that.

Even if the tales were exaggerated, talking to the heads of the executed, his decisions alone were pointing to a disaster. Londo had watched in horror as the Shadows managed to get a foothold in to his government again after he had broken of his own ties with them. But now it seemed that the Emperor had lost sight of the good of the Republic, he was either an egomaniac or insane.

He had also kept his ear open about Cianti, see if he was really only a patriot or whether it was ambition that was fuelling his plan. So far there was no indication of the latter but he would have to keep an eye on him. Odd, he hadn't yet decided if he should join in Cianti's conspiracy but apparently his heart had. Londo sat there for another minute just letting his mind wonder, he didn't have anything else to do as Adira was off shopping.

Then the call he had been dreading for a week now came. "Ah, Admiral Cianti. It is good to see you again, yes."

"Ambassador Mollari, I see you've managed to keep your function so far. Congratulations and lets hope this will still be so next week."

"That is my hope as well, but that is up to the Emperor and whether this station will still be here then."

Cianti smiled. "Yes, well the station managed to survive so far. From your reaction I can conclude you have managed to verify my story."

"I have, but still leaves one thing unexplained."

Cianti's eyebrows rose up. "And that would be?"

"Why would you do something about it? As the humans say, what's in it for you?"

Cianti's expression grew pensive as he considered how he should answer. "A candid question and I shall be just as candid. I have no desire to become the next Emperor nor in any other position in the government save the one I occupy now. I am not yet senile enough to believe that you can run a state like you run a navy. No, I will leave that to you politicians.

"And that is why I need you." He stressed the word need. "Taking out the Emperor isn't that difficult, even though it could get messy. But without people like you, the Republic will fall into anarchy. I want to save it, not hasten its fall!"

"Nor do I. I have talked to many a member of the Centaurum these last few days and most of them were not happy at all. It seems Cartagia has managed to alienate many by his decisions and by his conduct, but I also caught the fear. People are afraid of the Emperor and it isn't just because he is the most powerful Centauri."

Cianti nodded. "They all heard the stories and after meeting Cartagia in person, they have little trouble believing every one of them. Not to mention that those that have claimed our Emperor was mad have all disappeared. Now fear hangs heavy in the air of our Royal Court. Do you think any of them have the courage to aid us?"

"Two or three may help, a few more that reside on our colonies but they cannot do much except keep those colonies safe and secure when whatever you have planned goes into action. What is it you are going to do anyway?"

Cianti sagged as he spoke. "I don't know yet exactly, I have been batting around a few ideas but I am used to defeating my enemy on the battlefield not this."

Londo took a deep breath before speaking somewhat subdued. "I believe, that I can help you there."

**EAS _Heracles_, hyperspace**  
General Lefcourt didn't like Captain Hall, he didn't like the man at all. The man had an unpleasant character but that wasn't what ticked Robert off. It was Hall's conduct at Proxima that had earned him Lefcourt's disgust, if it were up to him he would have dragged Captain Hall in front of a court martial the second he heard what the man had done. But instead the matter was covered up because he had one quality that was rare in these days, absolute loyalty to the current administration.

He couldn't be certain but there was a change Sheridan's people had heard of what this ship had done and that wouldn't exactly make his mission easier. But there was nothing he could do about it - orders were orders. The staff he got assigned for this trip was better, Colonel Carter seemed like a competent young woman and quite knowledgeable about Starfleet's capabilities. Talking to her gave him a better and more worrisome picture of the threat those three ships posed.

But that was offset by the addition of "lieutenant" Waterson, the man may act and dress as an EarthForce officer but after spending a few days with him Lefcourt wasn't fooled anymore. He hadn't been informed whom Waterson really was which meant he wasn't supposed to know. He could only hope that Mister Waterson's orders didn't interfere with Lefcourt carrying out his.

All in all, a fine mess and that was just his own people. As he was on the bridge he heard it when the communications officer called for the captain's attention. Lefcourt just kept his ear open. "Sir, we are being contacted by Babylon 5."

Hall looked like he had bitten on a sour prune, but that was his usual expression. "Open the channel."

On the screen appeared a woman in a black uniform that was definitely not EarthForce even though the woman was an officer according to Lefcourt's files. "EAS _Heracles_, we have been informed of your arrival and we have designated an area were you can enter normal space. We are giving you the approach vector now, deviate and you will be fired upon. Babylon 5 out."

Trevor Hall looked over to his communications officer who confirmed it. "Alright, follow those instructions but be on your guard." Lefcourt himself was impressed, they must have been able to pinpoint our location in hyperspace if they could give such instructions. And that was certainly not an ability EarthForce had, so it must have been a gift from either the Minbari or the Federation.

When they left hyperspace they found themselves some distance from the station and even further away from the jumpgate. The _Churchill_ and the _Odyssey_ were there to greet the _Heracles _as it slowed down. By now Lefcourt had been joined by Carter who was drinking in every detail they could glean from that Federation spaceship. Lefcourt himself was more interested in what had been done to the _Churchill_.

"If it weren't for the writing on the hull I wouldn't have believed that was once an EarthForce ship.' He turned to the scanner operator. "What readings are we getting from the _Churchill_?"

"Not many sir," she responded apologetically. "Some kind of energy field is interfering with our scanners, so we only have visual. Doesn't seem to have undergone any changes since it's last sighting though," she offered.

Lefcourt nodded. He had hoped that the more advanced scanners of the _Heracles_ could get more information but wasn't surprised that it didn't pan out. Apparently Sheridan wanted Lefcourt to contact him instead of the other way around but that was fine with Robert. Keeping the initiative came natural to the General. After a minute he was looking at his former student, he too was dressed in that odd uniform.

"Captain Sheridan, as you know I have come to talk with you. I would appreciate it if you could get the other EarthForce," he stressed that word, "captains to attend as well. I think they will want to hear what I have to say for themselves."

"I will pass it along. Although frankly, I am surprised you choose the _Heracles_ as your transport. Word has gotten out about what happened at Proxima, not to mention the 'modifications'. Such a bold claim of supporting the Shadows won't go over well with the races that have lost colonies to them." Shadows? What was he talking about? Lefcourt guessed he was talking about the race from which the upgrades came, but Earth was keeping out of any alien war at the moment.

"She was available when I needed a ship." He would cut his own tongue out before he would go on record to defend Hall's reputation. "If that is everything, I will gather my staff and shuttle over to your station."

"Actually, if you could gather the people you want at the meeting now, that would be appreciated. For security reasons we will transport you to the meeting ourselves."

Which left little choice to Lefcourt. Declining would say that he didn't trust Sheridan but also implicate he actually had something covert planned. "Acceptable." He turned to the comm officer, "tell Lieutenant Waterson to report to the bridge. We will travel to the station shortly."

He turned back to the screen, taking in the image of the man he saw there. "Never thought we would meet like this John, as opposing forces."

"Neither did I sir, but back in the academy we still had a lawful government."

"That is something we better save for the meeting." Lefcourt searched for another topic he could discuss. He briefly considered asking what he meant with that comment about the Shadows but rejected it. It would most certainly get back to critique on the current administration and he would get enough of that when he was going to meet Sheridan and his people face to face.

Finally Waterson arrived and Lefcourt took a step to the left so Sheridan could see Waterson and Carter and he introduced them to the captain. Sheridan, after greeting them, spoke to Lefcourt. "I will see you in a minute general, standby for transport."

A blue rain of light engulfed his vision and the next thing he knew he was in a conference room with his aides. So that was that teleportation device he had heard about. He heard a noise and now he got to see how it looked from the outside, three columns of blue light dissolved swiftly into three humans. Captain Sheridan and Hiroshi seemed to take this mode of travel in a stride but Captain… Maestretti didn't.

It was Sheridan that spoke first. "Welcome to Babylon 5, if you will take a seat then we can get this meeting started." He didn't mention the teleportation, although Lefcourt was certain it was done for a reason. It was a subtle reminder that he had allies or perhaps, simply a way to get him off balance? Well that wouldn't work on him so Lefcourt choose to attack, not even waiting until he had taken a seat.

"You broke off from Earth and you called upon others to do the same. You also encouraged EarthForce officers to break their oath and join your rebellion. Even when the Centauri attacked, you didn't come back. Luckily, we held them off on our own but the President can't tolerate this situation any longer. Anyone that comes back now will get a Presidential pardon for their crimes although all EarthForce officers will be expected to resign. If I were you, I'd take it."

"As EarthForce officers we swore an oath to uphold the constitution. When Clark decided to play dictator and declare martial law just to cover up that he murdered Santiago we decided to follow our oath. I for one am not going to break it now, I won't betray Earth."

"Damnit John, we have bigger problems than that. You seem to be blind to it but there are some rather big questions about the Federation that need answers. We have absolutely no idea where they come from and only their word that they are in fact lost. For all you know they could be scouts for an invasion force and right now Earth is vulnerable."

Maestretti jumped into the discussion now. "So far they have not attacked civilian transports or bombed our cities." He left unsaid who had done those things.

Lefcourt just sighed, this was going to take time.

TBC


	35. The Curtain withdrawn

Author's notes: Well has instated a new rule which says I can't answer your reviews in these author notes anymore. The review reply function that they have given us, is worthless because it doesn't show the replies so now I would have to answer the same question several times.

I don't want to do that so from now I ask that you post your questions and comment on the forum concerning spacebattles. If I could complain to I would, but I have yet to find an email address or anything to send them to. In closing I would like to thank my betareaders for their work and especially swift return of the betaread chapter this time.

Now on with the story!

** The Curtain withdrawn**

'Men do change, and change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn, and it comes like the stealthy perfume of wildflowers hidden in the grass.'

-John Steinbeck

**Epsilon III, the planet  
**Looking down from space you would think this was a pristine if dead world, one of the myriad bodies in any solar system that would never be home to life of any kind. But it was home to something for underneath the surface hummed the towering machines that collectively were simply called the Great Machine. And there were people down there, maintaining it and using it.

Or better said, one individual was using it and gave the Machine purpose. He did not belong to the race that had built it, although his own race too was considered to be highly advanced if not the most advanced in known space. But right now Draal was being taught humility and limits as he struggled to peer into certain places. One was nearby, in orbit of this very planet in fact while the other two were far away.

He didn't know what but something that the Starfleeters used was interfering with his scans. Fortunately this only happened if he focussed his senses on their station or ships. He didn't know if they knew he was trying to scan them but he knew they knew he was here. Their own scans had told him enough to make that conclusion. The problem he faced with trying to find out what was going on in Vorlon and Shadow territory was a more familiar one.

Their defenses that had kept him out in the past were still up for the most part, at least where the fighting was. That the Vorlons were being attacked was certain, Draal had managed to identify several of the energy signatures as Vorlon weaponry, jumppoints and exploding vessels. But the other signatures were unknown to him and he could find no precedent for them in the Machine's records.

At Za'ha'dum the story was much the same, the Eye kept him out and he could only identify more then half of the different signatures picked up. But the outlying systems were no longer protected, the reason was most likely because there was nothing left to protect. The old ones were loosing, of that Draal was certain. But it was not the cause for joy he would have thought it would be only a month ago.

At last he had to conclude he would learn little else on his own, he had hoped to provide his findings once he had the complete picture but he could wait no longer. Time to swallow his pride and ask for help.

**Babylon 5, Zocalo  
**Adira was just strolling through the station at the moment, soaking up the atmosphere as well as putting her ear to use. She had been enjoying her time with Londo these past few weeks but the time had come to look further ahead. She wanted to be her own woman, which was why she had left after she had gained her freedom. She wasn't content with just being 'the mistress of', so now she was looking for a job, a way to earn her own living in life.

Right now she was actually looking for a specific person, she had heard rumors and if they were true that might just be her big chance. And there she saw him sitting in Eclipse Cafe enjoying lunch with Captain…Hisori or something like that. She smoothed her dress once more before approaching.

"Captain?" She began but had to stop to keep her smile in check when the two humans both reacted simultaneously and identical. The captains saw the humor as well and both smiled apologetically to each other before Captain Walker made a gesture that she could talk first. "How can I help you?"

"Oh, I actually wanted to talk to Captain Walker."

"About what, miss?" he asked.

She gathered her thoughts for a second before plowing ahead. "Well it is my understanding that you are setting up a restaurant on the station…" But Walker interrupted her.

"How did you…" Then he sighed before continuing, "guess it's too late for me to deny it but I would like to know how the news leaked out. We are, by the way, still negotiating with station management about the location. But why did you bring it up?"

"I gave the matter some thought and I realized that you most likely have no one that could run such an establishment. Your own people will most likely lack either the experience or the desire to manage it, I don't.

I have followed a course in business management recently and I am familiar with the cultural practices of the majority of the races that visit this station. And I have no problem staying on the station."

Walker leaned back in his chair and gazed into her eyes. She got uncomfortable when he stayed silent and began wondering if she perhaps should avert her eyes but the Starfleet Captain finally began speaking again. "And what if I said that we already have that position covered and instead offered a position as a waitress?"

"Depending on how good the salary is, I might take it. I am simply looking for a good job on this station." She wondered if she should elaborate and tell them about whom she was involved with.

"Because of your relationship with Ambassador Mollari, he and other Centauri aren't very popular at the moment." Walker was silent for a few moments once again. "I am not responsible for that project, Miss Adira. I will however pass along your offer to Commander Hett. He will no doubt want to talk to you too and test your knowledge and ability for the function, but we do not hold the way some of your people have acted towards us against you."

Not as much as she had hoped for, much better than she had feared. "Thank you, although I do hope Commander Hett will contact me soon."

Walker smiled. "If he hasn't done so in two days just give him a call." Then the human chuckled. "Just don't do it before ten in the morning, the first three hours he is up he is really cranky."

"Good advice, I will try to heed it." They said goodbye and Walker and Hiroshi—that was her name—started talking to each other again as Adira made her way out contemplating possibilities. She wondered how he knew her, she was certain she hadn't met him as she recovered from the poison.

**Deep Space Babylon**  
Elise was lying on her bed staring at the ceiling as she toyed with a pillow. They had informed her, was it already an hour ago, that an EarthForce destroyer had arrived and that she was free to contact it to arrange her transfer to that ship if she wanted to. That shouldn't have surprised her, these Federationists considered her a guest and not a prisoner.

But she still felt like a prisoner and her neighbor wasn't making her feel more comfortable here either. So why was she still mulling over her options instead of going to that computer and let the _Heracles_ know she was here?

She was afraid, that was it. She was the only survivor from her ship and had spent the last months here in comfort while the rest of EarthForce was fighting hard to defend their home.

She was afraid she would be called a coward, a traitor. But she couldn't run forever, she had to face the music sometime and the opportunity to do so had dropped itself on her doorstep. She stood up and went over to the computer they had provided her. It didn't take long before she was facing a hostile looking lieutenant that said only one word, "Yes?"

She had to calm herself, they probably thought she was one of Sheridan's people since she was calling from a Federation station. "I am Ensign Elise Kimmer, I was stationed onboard the EAS _Jupiter_ that was a part of the Vega defense fleet." The look on lieutenant Tapsoare changed from hostility to surprise. "I request pickup from this station."

"I will inform the Captain, Ensign. I will contact you with the answer as soon as I get it."

The man's tone was more neutral though Elise could she that he was wondering how she ended up here. She still asked herself the same question some of the time. "Understood... and thank you." And with that she closed the channel and took a look around. Strange, she was certain she would miss this room.

**Babylon 5, Sheridan's Office**  
"So that's it? That is Clark's whole offer?" Garibaldi couldn't believe it. Sheridan had told them what had come out of the meetings with Lefcourt so far and it wasn't much. "Just, 'you were wrong and I was right but I will forget this all happened if you just hand over everything to me and trust me not to stab you in the back?' How stupid does he think we are?"

"I don't think this is really about Lefcourt trying to get us back into the fold. Has anybody from the _Heracles_ come onboard Michael?"

"Just his aides, the rest are staying on their ship which is for the best anyway. I already have several people that know people on Proxima hanging out at Customs. Word has leaked out about what that ship did there and some people want to make certain that crew gets punished. If anybody on the _Heracles_ decides to take some R&R here we will have a riot and possibly some dead EarthForce personnel."

"And those two aids?" Sheridan asked.

"Colonel Carter, the blonde, has spent almost every waking minute trying to talk to any Starfleeter in uniform she can get her hands on. They seem to indulge her a bit but judging from her demeanor, she isn't getting what she is looking for."

"And that would be?" Asked Ivanova.

"Information on the Federation, any information. I had a talk with Iceren and their position is that the Colonel is free to ask as many questions as she wants, as long as she doesn't harass them. They just won't give many answers. But I am not worried about Carter, it's Wateson I don't trust."

"Ah, so you noticed it too?" remarked the Captain.

"Noticed what?" Ivanova had only seen the man in passing.

"I am willing to bet a year's pay that guy ain't an EarthForce officer," Garibaldi said. "He tries to hide it but there are little things that are giving it away. That means he isn't with Intelligence, those wouldn't use such a conspicuous cover for one and they would actually make a convincing officer. My bet is that the guy is either with Nightwatch or that Ministry of Peace."

"So what has mister Wateson been doing with himself when he isn't assisting Lefcourt," Sheridan enquired.

"Talking to people, mostly in Brown sector but he has also been meeting some wealthier people in Fresh Air. Apparently he thinks not wearing his uniform is enough to blend in and not attract any attention." Garibaldi shook his head as he continued. "I was tempted to think it's just some ruse to fool us into thinking the guy is inept, but I am starting to suspect he really isn't the brightest crayon in the box. Not that I am going to lower my guard, he is leading us right to any of Clarke's people that may still be on the station."

"Why don't we just tell them to leave?" Susan remarked. "It's not like any of us are actually taking Clarke's offer seriously and in the mean time that ship out there is getting a good look at our defenses."

Sheridan sighed. "True, but I am hoping that I can get through to Lefcourt." Sheridan got up from his chair and started walking around his desk. " He is a good soldier, I don't think he is blind to what is happening on Earth and I am betting he doesn't like it much either. If I could just convince him of the fact that we should do something about it…" Sheridan sighed again. "A lot of ifs but any victory we can get without gunplay is more than welcome."

He changed the subject. "Any news on what is happening in Vorlon and Shadow space?"

Garibaldi responded with exasperation. "Nothing new from those places, reports from the worlds closest to Vorlon space are still the same and nobody has any assets close to Shadow territory. But there is one thing, apparently all the Shadow vessels have now left Centauri Prime. They are all gone, but the Rangers couldn't pinpoint when exactly they left. Since then rumors have begun cropping up of sightings of Drakh ships in the area, but…"

"But those are being blamed for any and all shipping accident and raider activity nowadays," Ivanova cut in. "No way the Centauri would dare to let Drakh stay in their territory. They are way too scared of the Minbari to even think of ticking them off. And the Minbari would tear through the Centauri in a heartbeat if they thought that the Centauri were harboring even a single Drakh."

"I know that", Michael responded, "but it does make sense from the Shadows' point of view. They need their best ships back home, but they don't trust the Centauri so they station some of their loyal followers close by to keep the Centauri in line. But that only tells us that whatever is happening at Z'Ha'Dum isn't over yet, not what's going on there. The Feds don't know anything either, their scanners can't see that far. Right now, we know as much as anybody else on the station."

"Draal," Ivanova exclaimed.

"I already tried to reach him but I keep getting the runaround from Zathras." Sheridan sounded frustrated. "He says that Draal is busy with something and can't be disturbed."

"As I asked him to do," Draal cut in. Ivanova and Garibaldi had spotted him, Sheridan hadn't since his back was turned to the spot Draal's hologram had appeared. Something that John only now realized and he quickly turned to face the Minbari. "It is good to see you all again although I had wished it was for better reasons."

"I take it this has something to do with what is going on in Vorlon and Shadow space?"

"Indeed it has. And what I found was most disturbing, I have already warned Delenn and asked her to come here."

**Babylon 5, Guest Quarters**  
Lefcourt was pouring water into a glass as Colonel Carter finally came in. After she had saluted him, Lefcourt shared his good news with her. "We were contacted by a survivor of the Vega defense fleet, apparently she was rescued by the _Odyssey_ when it was in the system." He took a sip before continuing. "Even if I can't get any of Sheridan's people to see reason, at least we can get one of our people back home."

"That's good news sir. When could I speak to her?"

"On our way home, she has been through enough as it is. We should give her some time to recuperate and you can spend your time better gathering intel here. What have you found so far?"

"Not as much as I had hoped and a lot of it are rumors. I did get my hands on a copy of the simulated fight between a Sharlin and the _Salvador_. It seems to confirm my belief that their stealth system can't be used in conjunction with the weapons. Unfortunately, it also seems as I have grossly underestimated the strength of their shields." She put a data crystal on the table. "I made a copy for you sir so you could see for yourself."

He picked it up and let light shine through the clear crystal. As he kept examining it he continued. "Thank you Colonel. But you must have had the opportunity to talk to some of the crew?"

"I did sir but they have the annoying tendency to steer the conversation in a different direction whenever I start talking about technical details. Very politely, that is true, but it doesn't get me anywhere. I did find out something that I will have to take into consideration when I make my reassessment of the three ships combat capabilities."

Lefcourt looked pointedly to her, inviting her to continue. "I thought that all three ships were in fact warships but several of the crew already corrected me on that, independently. Apparently the two larger ships are considered multi-role ships, of which combat is only one. Both ships have a large part of the available space dedicated to scientific exploration."

"Are you telling me we have only gone up against their version of an IPX explorer so far?" Lefcourt's voice told him what he thought of that.

"That is not the case, General. Apparently Starfleet is considered the closest thing to a military that the Federation has, but neither you nor I would classify it as such. Only the Defiant class, of which the _Salvador_ is an example, is primarily geared towards combat.

"The other thing I noticed was not so much what they said as the composition of the crews." She shook her head as she continued, "the majority seems to be rather young, even several of the more senior officers. Captain Walker is a good example of that, he is in his early thirties. It gives some credibility to the rumor that the Federation is involved in a war in their own region of space. Although I personally think that war is already over, otherwise they wouldn't be so comfortable being stuck here until they can find a way back home."

"You are convinced they told the truth about being lost?"

"Yes, it makes the most sense. If they were interested in conquest they could have scouted us out quietly and than launched a surprise attack. Even if they could only muster a hundred ships and three-quarters of those would be only half as powerful as the _Thunderchild_ they still would have overran our defenses and wiped out most of EarthForce in about a week. Maybe two. The League would have been even easier and I don't think the Centauri would have faired much better. The Minbari would have been able to repel such an invasion, but only because of their numerical superiority in this scenario."

This left Lefcourt deep in thought for a few moments. "So you do not consider them a threat to the Earth Alliance?"

"I did not say that sir. But in my assessment the threat won't come from a full-scale invasion. Instead the problems come from the fact that they share some of what they consider antiquated technology with the other races as well as EarthForce rebels. That will most certainly upset the balance of power in the region."

"I can already hear that your report after this mission will be a most interesting read." But before he could continue he was interrupted by the comm beeping. Answering the call from Sheridan he motioned Carter to stay.

From Sheridan's expression he could already tell something was wrong. "What happened?"

"I just received some disturbing information about what is going on in Vorlon and Shadow space from a very reliable contact. I am calling a meeting about this in four days and I want you there on behalf of the Earth Alliance."

"I can't represent the Earth Alliance, I am not authorized to do so in such matters. Besides, we have problems closer to home. You can send an invitation to Earthdome if you want but I don't think they will send anyone."

"You would only be there as an observer. But it's important that Earth knows what is going on."

Lefcourt leaned back as he regarded Sheridan for a moment. He had heard the reports of those two races going on a rampage. He had breathed a sigh of relief when their attacks seemed to stop. "You think that the Vorlon situation will affect Earth?"

"I know it will, General." John repeated slower, "I know it will."

**Babylon 5, Several Days Later**  
They had opted for a larger conference room than the one usually used for these kinds of meetings, as there were many more races interested in the topic that would be discussed. This conference room was more along the design used for the War Room. A large circular room with a circular table in the middle and more desks arranged against the wall. The table in the middle had a large open space in the center to give room to the holographic projector that would be used to display what little data Babylon 5 had managed to gather.

The room was packed when Sheridan entered with Ivanova at his side. Garibaldi was keeping an eye on the station and the busy traffic around it. The people present weren't seated but were clustered in little groups filling the room with the murmur of soft voices. To his right two Federation captains as well as Commander Thalev were talking with ambassador Kalika and Vizak. He was wondering what the Abbai and the Drazi wanted to discuss with the Federation.

They were coldly observed by Neroon, the new leader of the Warrior Caste. It had been a big surprise to see him arrive besides Delenn, even bigger to learn that it was Neroon who now lead the Warrior Caste. Delenn had only arrived an hour ago so he hadn't had the opportunity yet to speak to Delenn but he already knew that she had succeeded in averting civil war. That same Delenn was now speaking with Lennier but took the time to shoot a smile at him when she noticed he had entered the room.

His eyes swept further over the room as he made his way to the seats reserved for him and Ivanova. He spotted G'Kar and Londo trading insults as they usually did on these occasions. Sometimes he wondered whether they kept it up because they hated each other or because they enjoyed the activity so much. He could see that pretty much every race was represented here, even Earth Alliance by Lefcourt and Carter who had seats against the wall and not the center table. They were, after all, only here as observers and that was what they were doing. Although Lefcourt shot some hostile glances to the Centauri ambassador.

He didn't take a seat immediately but instead cleared his voice and then spoke loud enough to be heard by everyone. "Thank you all for being here. If you would take a seat, we can begin." And he followed up on his own words by sitting. Still, it took a minute or three before things had quieted down. Sheridan considered for a moment again if he shouldn't have kept Londo out of this, but the problem was affecting the Shadows as much as the Vorlons and the Centauri were still a major power. If they could be convinced that the Shadows were loosing, they might just reconsider their alliances.

"We have all heard about what happened at Coriana 6, some of us even witnessed it. I know we all have also been racking our brains about what happened there and is still happening in Vorlon and Shadow territory. Reports from worlds close to Vorlon space speak of energy discharges and we now have been able to detect some of them as weapons fire."

Naturally, this was cause for the assembled to begin speaking among themselves drowning out any further words that Sheridan might have spoken. But he had already anticipated it and waited until the voices had died down a little before speaking further.

"But that isn't everything. I know many of you see the current situation as a good one, reasoning that the enemy of my enemy must be our friend. But we can't be certain of that and there is now evidence that casts doubt on that possibility." Sheridan pressed a button on the table and a holographic, crystal-clear image appeared of a planet. It was rotating and sported a green color with a few small seas scattered across its surface.

"This is Pretal IV, a planet located in a system situated on the Rim roughly between Vorlon and Shadow space. It was home to a sentient race that was still in the Stone Age and we are fairly certain that neither side had much interest in the planet. Nor have any Planet Killers been spotted there before the First Ones retreated back into their own territory." Almost everybody had caught the use of past tense on the part of Sheridan. In the silence you could have heard the drop of the pin.

Sheridan pressed a button and the luscious orb was replaced by a brown and black marble. A world that would never support life. "This is Pretal IV now, as far as we can tell all life has been removed from it in the last few weeks. We can't tell how long ago or exactly how this happened but we are fairly certain that it wasn't the Vorlons or the Shadows who did this. The readings coming from the planet are inconsistent with what we have seen done by their Planet Killers, something else did that!"

The Brakiri ambassador, Raklet, stood up. "But you do not know what was the cause, do you Captain? For all we know this is only an unfortunate but natural disaster."

Sheridan had looked at ambassador Raklet as he voiced his question but John addressed everybody when he answered. "That possibility did cross our mind and without better readings it can't be ruled out. We did find something that may be a clue." The captain pushed another button and the planet was replaced by two multicolored spheres half the size of the original. Both were rotating and one hung below the other.

"It's the same planet, but this time we used different colors to denote height differences. The top one is from when there was still life on the planet, the other one is how the planet is now." They could all see that the mountains of the planet were markedly lower now and the plains now featured several indentations. Those indentations all seemed to have a similar size. "As you can see, whatever did that didn't just remove all life but it left its mark on the very rock itself."

Again the gathered people erupted, although some were just staring in horror to the holograms. The three Starfleet officers were looking worried too and seemed to be discussing something amongst themselves. Sheridan didn't wait for them to calm down, he stood up and raised his hands to make a calming gesture. He began speaking once again, this time he raised his voice so he could be heard. "We have to stop this waiting game and do something. I propose we form an expedition to Z'Ha'Dum and see for ourselves what is going on!"

Of course this caused a flurry of protests. Everyone knew that no one returned from Z'Ha'Dum, to go there would be suicide. Others were more concerned about what they could find there, while others agreed with Sheridan that they had to do something. Walker now stood up as well, preparing to speak to the agitated congregation. This attracted the attention of many so that pretty much everybody saw how a white flash of light appeared across the table from Walker.

Next thing they knew, a human in what looked like a Starfleet uniform stood there slightly bend over the table with his fists on it looking into Captain Walker's eyes. "Can't I go anywhere these days without tripping over a Starfleet Captain these days, or are you people stalking me?"

Walker's eyes widened in recognition while the others were still processing what was going on. "Q!" Peter exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Sight seeing, but a better question is what Starfleet is doing in another universe. You weren't supposed to be here for at least five centuries!" Nobody had yet noticed that a second white flash had appeared along with first one. The young man that came from that second flash was now leaning against wall and watching how events unfolded.

Walker himself was more worried about what Q had said, he had spoken loudly so now everybody in the room knew their origins. That was not the way he had hoped this particular tidbit of information would be divulged. He narrowed his eyes as another possibility hit him, "You wouldn't be responsible for bringing us here?"

The question clearly offended Q and he began ranting. "Oh yes, let's all blame Q for everything. A star blows up, a cow dies or the station gets sucked into the wormhole and everybody immediately assumes it's me because I just happen to be around. Just because I am omnipotent, doesn't mean I spend all my time toying with you mortals." He then changed subject, "say, don't I know you?"

"I served on board Enterprise when you made some of your 'visits'."

"Oh yes, you were one of the little people." Q looked down and took in Walker's uniform. Q himself still wore the Starfleet uniform that featured the red band across the shoulders. "And I see Starfleet has managed to design an even more depressing uniform. Ever thought about adding a golden sash or a goatee, it could do wonders for your command presence."

Sheridan had followed the conversation with bewilderment. The man had apparently teleported into the room and was familiar with the Federation. It was also clear that the Starfleeters were hostile towards the man. "Who the hell are you and how did you get in here."

On hearing that Q whirled around and regarded Sheridan before smiling smugly. "I thought the good Captain over there had yelled loud enough but very well. I am Q of the Q-continuum." And it seemed that he considered that the answer to both his questions.

"Perhaps you could tell us what you are?" Delenn intervened.

"I already told you, I am a Q. And I see your trying to improve that dismal gene pool of yours by adding a little humanity to it, again. Not exactly the best you can find but given what you started out with I suppose you would have to try hard to find anything that could make it worse."

This remark of course managed to spark Neroon's ire. "Insulting a Minbari is not a wise move. You would do well to remember that before you spout such insults in the future."

But Q wasn't fazed by Neroon's threat. "I have a better idea." And with that he snapped his fingers and Neroon was left speechless on the account of the sudden absence of a mouth. A smooth patch of skin had replaced it in an instance. "There, much better."

This of course left everybody else except the Federation officers slack-jawed or otherwise stupefied. Neroon was desperately trying to open his mouth and touched the spot where it used to be with both his hands. Ivanova was the one to voice the conclusion several people in the room had reached. "You're a First One!"

Q looked disapprovingly. "A First One? Don't insult me, I am as far above the First Ones as they are above an Alurian Sand Beetle."

Walker swiftly brought Q's attention back to him so nobody else could get into trouble. "Q, what do you want?"

Q actually rolled his eyes as he answered. "Channeling those repetitive arachnids, are we? I do believe I already covered that. I wasn't aware slow wittedness was contagious. Then again, it always took Jean-Luc some time to catch up as well." He waved with his hand to shoo that thought away. "I wanted to show my son here the marvels of the multiverse, do some father-son bonding. So I took him to all the interesting universes that are out there."

He continued. "After that we went to the less interesting and worked our way down the list till we got to this dismal place. And imagine my surprise when I find that the place had actually gotten a little more interesting. So now I wanted him to see this giant merry-go-round before it gets blown up and to see all those races before they go belly up. Too bad Sheridan's pet Vorlon isn't around anymore, but I was planning to go see the fireworks anyway so we will just have to go throw peanuts at a few of them there."

"Something is going on in Vorlon space and you know what." Walker concluded.

"It would be more astounding if I didn't, wouldn't you say?" Q retorted as he walked over to his son who hadn't spoken a word yet. But he stopped before he had reached him and turned around again. "I almost forgot, a little 'welcome to this universe' gift from me to you Captain Walker." And he snapped his finger, a white flash appeared between Q and Walker which was swiftly replaced by a yellow-skinned humanoid in a Starfleet uniform.

"Commander Data," Walker exclaimed in recognition.

Data, who had been disorientated momentarily, quickly surveyed the room but stopped when his eyes rested on Q. "Q, I take it you are responsible for my presence here?"

"And you would assume correctly. I just didn't think that getting blown up destroying some Romulan contraption was a good way for my Professor of the Humanities to end. Just do try to stay in one piece this time Data, you won't get a third chance." Q now addressed the entire room again. "But I must be off, I don't want to miss the grand finale of the Shadows." And with that he and his son were gone, leaving everybody bewildered although Neroon was just relieved he had a mouth once more.

"Who the hell was that?" Sheridan was aiming that question at the Federation contingent who in turn were eyeing the new arrival. But Walker stopped doing that to answer the question. "That was Q, a nearly omnipotent being from a race that calls itself the Q. At least three Starfleet captains have had the displeasure of his visits, but this was actually rather uneventful as they go. I think he was just here to drop a hint in his own, heavy handed way."

He shared a look with his colleague's before continuing. "I think we need to see what is happening at Z'Ha'Dum and we need to be there soon. I propose we send the _Phoenix_ along with some observers to investigate the matter."

"The _Phoenix_?" Sheridan queried.

Walker nodded. "It's a new ship we have been making inside DSB, it has a new nacelle layout that should allow it to achieve higher hyperwarp speeds. With the _Phoenix_ the trip to Z'Ha'Dum would take less than a week. Judging by Q's remarks, even that might be too long."

"How soon could you get underway?"

TBC


	36. Here be Shadows

Author's notes: Got a few announcements so I will get right to them. First off, I too now have a little forum right here on Visit it if you got a question, you may find the answer there.

Second, I liked Lord of Misrule's aka Lightning Count's story so much that I will be treating it as canon background for my own story. Means you might find a character here or there that was in his story and vice versa. Doesn't mean I changed my mind on the technological abilities of the B5 races.

Lastly, I want to thank my betareaders as usual. And with special attention to Urgo who just had his birthday. Many more years.

Now on with the story! Here be Shadows 

"Do not search for the truth; only cease to cherish opinions."

- Seng-Ts'an

**Babylon 5, Sheridan's Office**  
Sheridan was sitting behind his desk again, reviewing how the meeting had ended. He hadn't even wondered why security hadn't responded to the intrusion until he had managed to end the meeting before awkward questions could be asked. Fortunately, the offer from Captain Walker to take several observers with them to Z'Ha'Dum so they could see for themselves had started an argument about who should go.

But he had questions of his own and now he could ask them. The Federation officers with the exception of Data and Thalev had come with him. "Alright, what exactly was that Q character and how reliable is the information he gave?"

Surprisingly it was Turol who answered, when it was obvious it was Walker who knew Q. "Q belongs to a race simply called the Q. They are immortal and by their own admission, nearly omnipotent. While we do not know the limits of their powers, on one occasion a member of this species managed to transport a starship to before the beginning of the universe, shrunk it to a subatomic size and finished by transforming it into the ornament of a celebratory tree."

Walker now cut in. "An ornament on a Christmas tree to be exact. And the sensors never detected how they did it."

"You witnessed it?"

Walker shook his head. "No, but I read the report. As for how reliable Q is, he is known to play games but he usually doesn't lie. As encounters with Q go, I would say this one was uneventful."

"Uneventful?" Ivanova broke in. "He made Neroon's mouth disappear. Not to mention the fact that he blabbed about you coming from another universe in a room filled with representatives of almost every race in known space and plucked one of your people from his home and deposited him here."

"Yea, he really got responsible after becoming a dad." Walker shook his head. "Who would have thought? And I do want to talk to you later about Q divulging our origins. I have an idea on how to contain the damage. But what I am more interested in is that little comment about improving the Minbari gene pool with human DNA again."

Both Sheridan and Ivanova tried to keep a neutral face but Walker wasn't finished. "Seems Mister Sinclair, or should I say Valen, arrived safely with Babylon 4. Although of course there is no way to say for certain I will simply report this as a predestined paradox and hope Temporal Investigations will swallow it."

"How did you find that out?"

Walker smiled. "Have you forgotten that we transported roughly a hundred Minbari not too long ago? Doctor Joe went over the data to check for any medical conditions and," Walker shrugged apologetically, "out of curiosity. After finding the obviously human genes it was a simple task of backtracking it to when it was introduced and see what was going on in Minbari history at the time. 'A Minbari not born of Minbari.'"

"I hope you will be discrete with that information," Sheridan implored. After Walker's and Turol's answer in the affirmative he went on. "Let's get back on topic, I would like to know how you managed to build a new ship in so short a time and how long the journey would take?"

"We aren't exactly sure how long, but our best estimates would be about five to six days. It all depends on how the warp coils hold up. As for how we made her so fast, the _Phoenix_ isn't finished yet. But why don't I give you a tour so you can see for yourself."

VVV

"But I don't see why I have to go instead of you, Londo?" Vir complained.

"It is very simple Vir. For some reason, which still escapes me, people don't dislike you and that includes those Federationists. And if I went, Adira would insist on coming along and I will not endanger her like that. A Centauri must go there and that Centauri is you."

"I guess you're right." Vir continued after thinking over Londo's reasoning. "You really think they are from another universe?"

"Who? Oh, those Starfleeters. I do not know, but this station does attract the strangest things in the universe to it so why not extra-universal humans? At least we don't have to worry about a Federation fleet coming here anytime soon. If it is true. Now leave me, you have to pack."

Londo stared at the door as it closed. He had considered warning Vir that he might encounter some Centauri ships there but he had decided against it in the end. His denial would be more plausible if he didn't know that they were there. He just hoped that Vir would come back, alive and untouched.

He wished Adira were here but she was off having a job interview or something. Odd, now that he thought about it. She hadn't mentioned where exactly she was applying, just that it was a restaurant that was about to open on the station. A little reminder that life must go on, even if the galaxy seems to be burning.

VVV

They were in Delenn's quarters and Neroon's tongue was again swiping against his teeth in a subconscious check. When that Q entity had made his mouth disappear, he had done more than seal his lips. His teeth had been fused together and he could no longer move or even feel his tongue. The experience had caused him to panic, right in front of everybody. The shame of that alone was enough to horrify the proud Minbari.

He still had a hard time believing that thing had actually done what Neroon knew he had done. Such power wielded so casually and to make it worse, he wore a Starfleet uniform and a human face. But there were larger issues to be concerned about right now. Like Delenn's lack of a reaction to a certain bit of news.

And now that non-Minbari ears could no longer hear them, he could speak more freely. "You already knew they were from another universe," he accused.

A flicker of surprise crossed her face before she admitted that she indeed knew. Neroon followed up on it. "It would explain why you weren't concerned about the Federation. Why bother if the chances we will ever hear of them are astronomical? But have you not thought about the implication that if this happened once, it can happen again. And what arrives then might be even worse than these Starfleeters."

"Are you so sure that their arrival was a bad thing?" Delenn asked as she seated herself, inviting Neroon to do the same.

"It remains to be seen what they are," Neroon admitted. "They challenge the order of things, they challenge us. And I am not talking about that foolish duel that Shakiri got himself into. They are a young race yet possess knowledge and power we didn't even conceive of. The question is if they can use it wisely, something I intend to find out during the journey to Z'Ha'Dum."

"Is that all you are concerned about? Not the threat that is looming on the horizon but the one that might well never be?"

"No, but I cannot do anything about whatever is attacking the Vorlons until we know what is going on. And if they are really threatened, why haven't they asked for help? I do enjoy a good mystery but not if I don't even have any clues to the answer. So instead I will worry myself with the mystery that I can solve right now."

VVV

"Another universe? Impossible, it has to be some kind of trick by the Starfleeters." Lefcourt was certain of it, moving between universes was pure science fiction.

"Do you think Captain Sheridan would go along with such a deception?" Colonel Carter asked.

Lefcourt considered it then dismissed it. "No, Sheridan wouldn't have a meeting disrupted like that. He didn't know this was going to happen, I am sure of that. But I haven't heard you agreeing with me yet that it was a trick?"

Carter chose her words carefully, "that is because I haven't yet reached a conclusion on that matter yet, sir. Besides the fact that it would explain several oddities like the radically different path their technology has taken, what that Q character did to the Minbari was inexplicable. Unless he participated in the deception, I doubt that Starfleet could do that. And there is something else…" She trailed off.

Lefcourt frowned. "And what would that be Colonel?"

"Why didn't security respond when Q appeared in the room? Such a breach of security should have produced some reaction but it didn't. Somehow he must have bypassed the sensors monitoring the room without detection. If we assume it wasn't a Federation ploy, that feat becomes even more impressive as I am certain they too monitored the room."

Lefcourt sighed. "Well, you can find out the answers on your trip. Meanwhile I will keep up the pressure here. And make a full report of your findings so far before you go. In case anything happens to you."

"So you do believe Sheridan that a dangerous situation is developing there?"

"Yes and no. I do think something is going on there and it might be dangerous to actually go there. But the Alpha Omega system is a long way from Earth, I doubt it will develop into a problem we have to concern ourselves with. And I am more worried that those Feds might decide to space you if you stumble onto something they don't want you finding out."

Colonel Carter swallowed as the thought had crossed her mind too. "I will be careful sir."

Lefcourt tried to lighten up the mood. "Just in case, I am ordering you to come back alive Colonel."

Carter gave a small smile back. "Yes, sir. Will do."

**Deep Space Babylon**  
The tingling sensation began to cease almost as fast as it had begun. One moment he was in his own office and the next one Sheridan was in DSB. A journey that took a Fed shuttle at least ten minutes if you counted docking and undocking compressed to a trip of a few seconds. He could see why they preferred this, it was a lot more efficient and the military applications alone were numerous. The more he learned about them, the more worried he got that some of their technology ended up in Clark's hands or the Centauri's.

He was roused from the dark turn his thoughts had gone by Walker who motioned to something behind them. He turned around and he saw her, the _Phoenix_. The window they were looking through covered pretty much the entire wall but Sheridan didn't even notice it. He could see it docked between two pylons that featured several massive robotic arms, which were busy applying large hull platings to the frame of the spaceship. Tiny insects, which must be people, could be seen scurrying across the hull platings that were already attached as well as moving inside the ship itself.

But enough of the ship was finished to see its form, it was metallic gray like the other three ships and it had quite a few windows. Overall the ship looked a bit like the _Odyssey, _but the specifics were different. It was hard to guess but Sheridan reckoned that it was about as long as the _Thunderchild._ Its saucer section wasn't round but had the shape that looked a bit like an arrowhead, a fat arrowhead that is. The engineering section was higher than the one on the _Odyssey_ so that the transition from the saucer to the engineering hull was smoother. The most striking difference between this ship and the other Starfleet ships he had seen so far were the presence of four instead of two nacelles attached to the ship.

"Wow," was the best that Sheridan could produce at the moment but it seemed enough for Walker who smiled in response.

"Thanks, I think Lieutenant-Commander Theverine did one heck of a job on this one. He had to improvise a lot since we tried to use spare parts as much as possible but he still managed to produce this."

"And I would have done it a lot faster if that stuck up Yatoshi didn't keep harping on about his precious regulations," a new voice cut in behind them. All three of them turned around to see who had spoken. The man clearly was a Starfleet officer, he wore the uniform with a yellow undershirt indicating he belonged to the engineering corps. He looked a bit like a pig with his snout. He had a well-groomed beard and fierce intelligence shone from his recessed eyes.

Walker made the introductions. "Captain Sheridan, Commander Ivanova, meet the new chief engineer of the USS _Phoenix_, Lieutenant-Commander Aden Theverine."

Something was itching in the back of Sheridan's head about the engineer, something about his race but he couldn't quite remember what it was. "Pleased to meet you, Lt.-Commander. You got a fine ship there."

Aden seemed mildly pleased. "Thank you, your station is almost adequate as well. That it didn't fall apart yet is a miracle in itself." Now Sheridan remembered what it was about these Tellarites. Their frankness and fondness for insults had caused some problems on Babylon 5. Security had to break up several fights that the Tellarites unwittingly had started.

Luckily Captain Walker cut in before things could get more awkward. "And if Yatoshi didn't keep an eye on you, you would be the only one capable of even maintaining the ship." He went on before Theverine could protest. "I promised them a tour, think you can spare the time to give us one?"

Theverine didn't need to think about it. "Absolutely not, we are over our ears in work and you want me to waste an entire hour playing guide?"

"If you are so busy then why are you here?"

Theverine wasn't fazed by Walker's tone. "Because I wanted to ask you to give us another week to get the ship ready," he shot back.

"What caused the setback?"

"You mean, what didn't? We only have fourteen of the computer nodes installed, the phaser cannon is still a week from completion, the artificial gravity on deck 5 is fluctuating and we haven't even started installing the Chameleon system yet!"

"But she will fly?" Walker interjected.

"Oh, she will. Both warp- and jump engines have been calibrated and we will get the shield emitters working by the end of today. But not the armor generators and we have had problems programming the drones. The list is endless, we can't…"

Again Walker stopped him. "I get the picture, Commander. Unfortunately we have run out of time, can you spare a few minutes then to give our guests a quick overview of her capabilities. Once she is finished that is." He added with a smile.

"I can do that." He motioned to the window. "You might have noticed she is sporting four instead of two nacelles. We did that because we found that warp field geometrics differ between hyper- and normal space. In hyperspace, the two fields the two pairs of nacelles generate will strengthen instead of interfere with each other enabling _Phoenix_ to reach speeds that would even exceed transwarp." As Aden spoke his eyes began to shine.

"And how fast would that be?" Ivanova inquired.

Aden blinked at the interruption, apparently forgotten why he was talking. "Oh, I think she will easily reach 50,000 times the speed of light. Maybe more."

Both EarthForce officers looked amazed as they tried to imagine such a speed, Aden continued. "And that is just the propulsion system. We are using the spare warp core from the _Odyssey _to power her and instead of a central computer core we use a network of distributed computer nodes to hasten construction time.

"We also made a few changes in the weapons department. We are using a mix of type twelve and eight phasers so she can fend off those fighters people seem to be fond of using around here. She also will have a phaser cannon, partially based on Shadow weaponry."

"You put Shadow tech in that ship?" Sheridan asked worried.

Theverine frowned at him. "Of course not. We simply analyzed the characteristics of the energy beam that the Shadows use and applied some of the lessons learned to our own phasers. The result is a weapon capable of cutting a Shadow battlecrab in half, if they get it to work for once without needing half its parts replaced after the first shot."

Again Aden was interrupted, this time by the beeping combadge of Captain Walker. Peter quickly answered it, it was Thalev. "Captain, we just finished the examination of Commander Data. Could you join us in the briefing room?"

"Of course, standby to beam me up." He apologized to Sheridan and Ivanova for leaving them and then he was gone, dissolved into a pillar of light. This left them with Theverine. Ivanova spoke up, "You mentioned something called a Chameleon system?"

**USS _Odyssey_, Briefing Room**  
"Alright Thalev," Walker jumped right in, "what's the verdict?"

"We did every scan we could think of and it appears that this is indeed our Commander Data, even has the right quantum signature. That or Q made a copy indistinguishable from real but I can't think of a reason for Q to do that." Still, Thalev crossed his antennae as he contemplated the possibility.

Walker turned to Commander Data himself who had been sitting to the left of him. "First off, I suppose I should welcome you to this new universe and express my regret that you too got stranded here along with us."

"Regret is not necessary, Captain." Data argued. "I would not have functioned much longer in our parent universe if Q had not intervened."

"How so?"

"I had just discharged my phaser into Shinzon's Thalaron generator…" But Data wasn't allowed to finish as Walker exclaimed, "Thalaron Generator! But I thought Thalaron radiation was still theoretical?" Thalev however kept quiet, he had already heard Data's story.

"Yes, sir. That was Captain Picard's reaction as well when he first learned of its existence. We weren't able to determine how the Romulans managed to construct it without us knowing anything about it."

"Who is Shinzon?" asked Walker next.

"Shinzon is, or most likely was the new praetor of the Romulan Empire. He was also Captain Picard's clone that was raised by the Remans."

Walker's eyebrows rose at that. Shaking his head he responded, "never a dull moment on the Enterprise, huh? There are times I am glad I managed to get through my tour on that ship in one piece but there are moments I wished I had stayed there."

Thalev's antennas went wide as he said humorously, "And it's not like anything interesting has happened to us lately." Walker had to grin at that and Thalev returned it, then he continued more seriously. "But I think the most important tidbit is the stardate."

Walker looked over at Data questionably. "The stardate on the moment that I arrived here, according to my own internal chronometer was 56854.178954."

Walker slumped in his chair. "But that is six months from now. Either time flows faster back home or we won't be able to contact home in any way in the next few months at least."

"You already knew we would be here for a while."

Walker nodded, that was true. "Can you tell us how the search effort for us went, Commander? Did they find any clues to our whereabouts?"

"I am afraid I did not keep myself apprised of it in much detail. I do know that all work underway to outfit ships with either a slipstream drive or the technology Voyager brought back from the future was halted until the cause of your disappearance could be solved. The work hasn't been resumed since."

Walker pivoted his chair to look out the window. There were a lot of stars visible, but none that any of his crew could call home. It was silent for a minute as both Thalev and Walker both came to terms with the dashing of the small hope that Starfleet would come to their rescue.

In the end, it was Walker that broke the silence. "I talked to Theverine and although he is adamant that we wait another week, it seems you will be able to leave on time Commander. I have to know now who you want as your first officer?"

"I want Commander Data for that post."

This managed to surprise both officers. "And your reasons for that choice?"

"He's an experienced officer and it wouldn't disrupt the crew onboard any of the other ships if I took him as my first officer. And I took a look at his file, he's been due for this kind of responsibility for a few years now."

Walker titled his head as he considered this. "Alright, you can have him." He turned to Data. "That is, unless you have some objection against that posting Commander. I am guessing that Thalev hasn't discussed this with you yet."

"No sir, he has not. I thought that I would be assigned to the team that is trying to find a way back to our own universe."

"With all due respect to your qualifications in that area, I don't think you would contribute that much if I assigned you full-time to that. Of course, I do hope you will allocate some of your off duty hours to that project. Half the fleet does that. But do you accept the post of First Officer?"

"Yes, I do."

**USS Phoenix, Day of Departure**  
Data was making his way to the bridge, something that wasn't so easy as whole corridors were without floors. Even in the ones that were passable he had to wait sometimes as people worked on this or that, blocking half the corridor. The ship had been christened the day before, Captain Thalev had insisted they do that before they left even though the ship wasn't finished.

The captain had also insisted that he received their guests and showed them their quarters, something about captain's privilege. That task had gone smoothly, but when he finally returned to what were now his quarters they felt empty. But it wasn't personal knickknacks he missed; it was Spot

He should have made arrangements for the feline. Now he didn't even know who would take of her. Spot was very particular about people, besides him only Lieutenant Barclay seemed to be liked by her. And his friends thought he was dead, all these realizations had caused him to feel sadness. As this could influence his performance he decided to go without emotions while on duty. At least for this mission.

When the turbolift's doors opened he spent time reviewing who was on the bridge as he made his way to his chair besides the newly promoted captain. He first passed the Edosian called James who was manning Ops and Lieutenant Summers who had Tactical. The helm was manned by one of the telepaths that had been rescued from the Shadows, Ensign Harris. The others seemed a little giddy that they were about to make their maiden voyage, but Harris seemed to take it in a stride.

The captain himself was doing his best to remain passive but the twitching of his antennae indicated restlessness. He had turned to the turbolift when he had heard the doors swish open. "Ah, Commander Data. How have our guests settled in?"

"Well sir," he intoned as he seated himself. "Only ambassador Kani had some complaints about the environmental settings among other things."

Thalev's antennae lifted as he muttered in surprise, "only one?" But he immediately raised his voice to address the tripedal Ensign. "Mr. Dean, are we ready for launch?"

"We are good to go sir. DSB has given the green light and is standing by to release the docking clamps," was the clip answer, his hands never stopping nor did he lift his eyes.

Captain Thalev took a deep breath. They had tested the systems so they should be able to take the massive energies that would soon course through them. But you just never knew what kind of surprises a new ship would throw at you once it got underway. Well, one way to find out. "Ensign Harris, release docking clamps. Take us straight out, one quarter impulse."

A metallic clunk could be heard as the clamps disengaged and then the ship was moving. Out of its berth and towards the opening in the asteroid. Although it didn't look like one from the inside anymore as metallic gray panels and brightly light windows had replaced the rusty brown. Once outside the _Phoenix_ was greeted by her sister Starfleet ships along with a myriad of other ships.

'At least I have been spared the embarrassment of having to be towed out of spacedock,' Thalev thought. "Get us clear of this bustle and standby to go to warp. We'll test that system first and if it works, then we jump to hyperspace and she how she behaves there."

The _Phoenix _elegantly weaved through the ships and once she was clear the top pair of nacelles started to glow. Then the entire ship stretched out before rocketing away at a speed that allowed it to outrun light itself. "All systems working normally, no problems so far Captain. " Ensign Harris reported.

Thalev nodded to himself. "Excellent, drop us out of warp and enter hyperspace Ensign." Harris immediately followed suit, but after a few seconds the ship was still flying at warp instead of slowing down. Harris frowned as she tried to correct the problem.

"What's the problem, Ensign?"

"Warp engines aren't responding to the helm, Sir. They powered down slightly but then got stuck on its current level. I am doing a diagnostic of the controls now but I don't think that the problem lies there."

Thalev's antennae came closer together as he was informed of this setback. He turned to Data, "Inform Engineering of the problem. If they can't fix it in the next five minutes, tell them to remove power from the nacelles completely."

But it only took a minute before the streaking stars became specks again. Thalev contacted Engineering to find out what the problem had been, but he didn't get the report he had hoped. "I don't know what the problem is right now Captain," informed his chief engineer. "But it is clear it ain't in the nacelles. My bet is there is a problem in the command pathways between the warp engines and the Helm. I should have it sorted out by the end of the day and I can solve it in the meantime by routing Helm commands through Engineering. Gonna slow down response time by a second or so but it is the best I can do right now with these inexperienced people I got assigned by you, Sir."

"It will do, Lt.-Commander. Thalev out." No wonder it had taken the man so long to make it to Lieutenant-Commander with that kind of an attitude. Most other Tellarites weren't that disrespectful. He turned to Ensign Harris. "Take us into hyperspace Ensign. And keep your fingers crossed that the jump engines won't go into a loop as well," he added with a smile.

The little jest didn't draw one out of Harris though, nor did it anger that fickle god called Murphy by the humans. So within seconds the _Phoenix _was now gliding through the turbulent currents of hyperspace, seemingly unfazed by the energies that occasionally pounded against the small ship.

"And now to see if Theverine placed the nacelles right. Standby for hyperwarp, we will start with warp 1." Most of the bridge crew now waited with bated breath as the brunette entered the relevant commands. The seconds ticked away and then a reddish tunnel began to appear on the viewscreen. Thalev didn't need to hear Harris her confirmation that they had reached warp.

"Alright, now for the main event. Slowly increase to warp 2, that should get us to Z'Ha'Dum fast enough." On the screen they could all see how the fluctuations in the tunnel wall streaked by more rapidly now and the tempo kept going up.

"Warp 2.04 and holding Captain," Harris announced.

Captain Thalev tapped his combadge to make an announcement to everybody on the ship. "As most of you probably know, we just reached hyperwarp 2. Congratulations everybody, we just became the fastest ship in Starfleet."

VVV

Ensign Harris moved into the turbolift and told it to head to deck 8. Her shift had ended and she was heading straight to her bunk. But when the doors closed she allowed herself to slump against the wall as she silently berated herself. 'Great work on your first day on the job, Nancy.' And the fact that she hadn't felt any disapproval coming from any of them hadn't helped. Just made her feel smaller as she was certain none of them would have this happen to them.

'What am I doing here anyway?' It has been two months since she joined and they normally don't let you pilot a ship this fast. Sure, she knew how to operate the ship and she had a natural talent for flying. That was what got her this position. 'But everybody on this ship had spent years in the Academy, I am still taking my courses in Survival Strategies and Interspecies Protocol. There have to be better qualified people than me so why am I here?'

But the walls gave no answer.

VVV

Neroon had discovered this bar when he examined the simple map he could access. But he wasn't here for refreshments. He had come for the view as the ship was now hurling through hyperspace, faster than light at that. He knew the Starfleeters had that capability, but apparently they had now improved on it and it worked. Less than half a year since they learned about hyperspace and already they were merrily cruising faster than a Whitestar.

And that ship had been designed with the aid of the Vorlons. So what was it exactly that made these humans expand so fast, something that their in-universe cousins had in common to a degree. He glanced to his right where the EarthForce officer and the alien Commander were talking; he could just hear their so far uninteresting conversation.

No, not just humans he corrected himself as he counted how many alien races he had already spotted on his way here. He wondered if there were any Minbari out there, in that alternate universe. Could there be a universe where Dukhat still lived, what effect would that have?

Neroon was certain that Delenn had asked herself those last questions after learning their origins. And it was fruitless speculation, this was the universe they had to deal with. He had told her he wanted to solve the Federation mystery and that is what he would do. He had already browsed through the history files but it was a lot even though they didn't go any further than 2300. Not to mention that it was lacking in details were it was concerned with technology. But Neroon was more interested in their enemies, one could tell a lot about a people from their foes.

And so he had stumbled upon the Klingons, in a way a people after his own heart. Both warriors, although he personally thought he looked better than any Klingon. "Great men do not seek power, they have power thrust upon them." It aptly described his own situation at the moment although whether he was actually great was still uncertain.

Then he realized what that Commander Data had said and in his astonishment he turned to look at him. Thankfully, Colonel Carter hadn't expected the answer either as she nearly yelled, "You're a robot?" This caused everybody to stare at them for a moment.

Commander Data however remained unfazed, although his voice did carry a hint of amazement. "Android would be the correct and preferred term. But yes, I am an artificial construct."

Carter blinked then frowned. "But if Starfleet can make androids then why doesn't every ship have several of you? Or do they look different than you? It's those Vulcans, that would explain a few things."

"I am afraid you are incorrect, Starfleet does not have the capacity to copy me as they had nothing to do with my construction in the first place. And the Vulcans are quite alive."

Sam couldn't wrap her head around it. "But if that is true, why are you here and not in some lab being studied?"

"Merely because I am an android does not mean I do not have any rights. I am legally a sentient being with all the rights and privileges that accompany such a designation."

"If I needed any further proof you people are from another universe I would say that is it. Giving rights to a toaster." She flushed crimson. "I am sorry, I didn't want to offend you."

"None taken, I am still new at having emotions and have yet to feel that particular one. I do have a question of my own. I found references to some work done by Earth Alliance on AI's but it seems that it was rather unsuccessful. Could you enlighten me on what the problems were?"

Carter pondered the question for a moment. Given Data's nature she could understand his interest and she didn't know enough about the subject to reveal anything that might be deemed classified. "Sure, ask away."

**Z'Ha'Dum**  
A small fire illuminated the cave, several flat stones served as benches and on one sat a robed figure. He looked like a cross between a Soul Hunter and a Lumati with his bald head, sunken eyes and long beard, although the being wasn't related to either. In fact, this wasn't his true form in the first place.

Two flashes of light appeared, one on the bench across of him and another one on the stone to his right. He wasn't surprised, he had already felt them coming but he was intrigued as to the identity of the other one. The lights vanished and were replaced by what looked like humans in some kind of uniform. "It has been a long time since your last visit Q."

"And it is good to see you too Lorien," Q answered exuberantly. He continued speaking as he looked around. "I see you have gone with the Neolithic setting, but don't you think a few drapes would liven up the place?"

Lorien ignored the comment, for a race of beings as old as Lorien was the Q seemed to be stuck in the mindset of a much younger species. "One setting is as good as the next, but why this form?"

Q shot him a grin. "I have gotten attached to this face, it just seems to fit with my dashing persona. And the uniform lends me that bit of austerity a being of my power requires as my youthful face seems to lack that."

"You haven't changed in any way, have you?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. I have gone through many, you just weren't around to see it." He gave the walls another look, a clearly disapproving one this time. "But you decided to sit around here for a few million years and although I would have liked to say you were watching moss grow I can already see that even that wasn't a possibility. So what have you done with your time? Brooding about how boring and dreary immortality is, perhaps."

"Thinking, Q. I have been contemplating, something you should try once. But what have you done lately?"

It was the question Q had waited for. A chance to actually shock Lorien didn't come along every millenium. "Oh, this and that. Got stripped of my powers, fought a civil war in the Continuüm and I started a family."

Lorien belonged to the first race and he himself was the first of them. The first sentient being to appear in the universe and he had thought he had seen and heard it all. But he was proven wrong now. "A family?"

Q smiled. "Yes, I brought him along so he could meet some of his old man's friends. After we had done that I thought I should look you up too since I was in the neighborhood anyway." He waved his hand from the young Q to Lorien. "Son, meet the oldest being in this universe. Just don't believe anything of what he says, he just doesn't know how to have fun."

He covered his mouth with his right hand and continued in a mock whisper, "Personally, I think he needs a long vacation on Risa and a nice Deltan to…"

But Lorien cut him off, apparently fatherhood hadn't changed Q. "So you are Q's offspring. Strange, I hadn't heard Q procreated. So what do you think of current events?"

The boy seemed to think it over before giving his answer. "It's messy and the humans here aren't anything like Aunt Kathy's people."

"Aunt Kathy?"

"My godmother, a human Starfleet Captain. But I have a question of my own."

"Ask and I will give you an answer." He said magnanimously, ready to impart his wisdom on the young Q.

"Why are you here, on this planet?"

"I am waiting for someone to talk to, although that is becoming increasingly unlikely with what is happening above us now."

Q junior gave him an odd look. "If you wanted to talk to someone, why not go to them?"

"Because I already tried that, but they didn't listen. So I wait here until they do."

"You do know that it's a new galaxy out there? Maybe you should try talking to a different crowd, because it doesn't look like the old one will be around for much longer."

He mulled that over in his head for a moment. "An interesting thought, perhaps I will." And then he felt it. Something was approaching, something out of this universe.

VVV

The bridge was a little more crowded than usual due to the fact that all of the ambassadors were there to get their first glimpse of Z'Ha'Dum. Not that they were there yet, they were still in hyperspace. At first the plan had been to just jump out of normal space outside the system and then warp in. Unfortunately they didn't know just how good Shadow sensors were so they would have to do better than that.

"And why don't you have seats for us as well Captain?" The Brakiri ambassador Bortalla Kani wanted to know. "One would think that you could afford some after the handsome reward you got for ruining a complete industry!"

"I am afraid I do not know to what you are referring, Ambassador," was Thalev's puzzled reply. He had begun to wish it was ambassador Vrokat that had joined them instead of Kani. But the Brakiri government had decided that Vrokat should stay on Babylon 5 and keep representing their interest there. So now Thalev was stuck with this old man.

"My company was the leading publisher of 'Who shot JR' books and then you come along and just sell us the episode! Hundreds of writers lost their income, the economic aftershocks will still be felt by my great-grandchildren and I may just have to live in a box from now on!" Kani extolled.

"I am deeply sorry to hear that Ambassador," and Thalev quickly ordered Summers to bring the tactical display up on the main viewer. The image silenced everybody present. Besides the planets, moons and various other objects floating around which were all clearly labeled they could see a large number of energy signatures around the third planet. Almost half of them had been labeled as being a Shadow, Drakh or Centauri warship along with its precise class. And it was the latter that drew outcries from the people standing behind Thalev.

A furious Neroon turned around to face Vir, "the Shadows have been our enemies for a thousand years and now we find your people defending Z'Ha'Dum itself. Tell me why I shouldn't kill you were you stand Centauri." He spat out the last word.

But before a sputtering wide-eyed Vir could form a coherent protest, Captain Thalev intervened. "Because if you were to try such a thing, I would have security subdue you and you can spend the rest of this trip in the brig." Now he turned his attention to Vir. "Having said that, I too would like to know if you knew that these ships were here?"

"No, of course I didn't. They might not even be ours! They could belong to one of the Houses." The words just streamed out of him.

Thalev got a thoughtful look, "Mister Data, how many Centauri vessels are we picking up?"

Data only had to take one look at his own display to find the answer. "We are currently detecting 279 Centauri ships, 179 of them are currently in normal space and two groups of 50 ships are in hyperspace on their way to the third planet. All are of the Vorchan or Primus class, fighter engines are below our current resolution so we cannot detect them."

Vir looked crestfallen. "That's too many, it would take almost every House to gather that many ships. Only the Imperial navy could spare those numbers but I don't see how they would go along with something like this." And he waved his hand at the viewscreen.

"Nevertheless, those ships are still there." The Abbai Ambassador Kalika jumped into the discussion. "I am however more interested in the ships your sensors couldn't identify. Do you have any more information on them?"

Data didn't need to study his display again. "Yes, it appears that 9.6 percent are using some kind of fusion as a power source, I speculate these are races allied to the Shadows that we have not yet met. The other 90.4 percent all derive their power directly from hyperspace, judged on their pattern of movement I believe that these all belong together and they seem to be in conflict with the other ships."

He tapped in a few commands to color the ships according to the race they belonged to. A large flock of black dots was surrounding the planet, with interspersed groupings of red, purple and green dots. Opposing them were a slightly larger cloud of blue dots.

VVV

One of those groups of purple and red dots was right now passing the site of a previous skirmish. That part of space was littered by debris of both sides, not just little bits of metal and other stuff but almost intact hulls as well. It was this scene that the six Vorchans escorting a single Primus passed by. They were guarded by a motley-skinned Drakh cruiser that flew above them and its assortment of Raiders.

But their passing did not go unnoticed. From one of the wrecks consisting out of a black octahedron, or better said half of one, a figure watched them sail past. Waiting until just the right moment it suddenly launched itself into space, its apparent goal one of the Vorchans trailing behind the Primus. Once it had landed there it didn't waste time in finding a way in.

VVV

"Have they found the reason for that decompression yet?" Captain Rolle of the _Benessi _asked. It had only been five minutes ago that they had noticed it, but the mechanics should have reached the spot by now.

"They have yet to contact us my Lord."

Rolle nodded in acknowledgement and then turned his thoughts to the war he was fighting in now. He hadn't joined the Imperial Navy out of a sense of duty, it had been the prestige and the money that had lured him in. But how did this war help the Republic? Not to mention, how did this war affect his own chances to live to a ripe old age? So far all indications were that it would do so negatively.

The hiss of the opening of the outer door leading to the bridge pulled him out of his thoughts. It was the one on his left if he had heard right, but nobody was due to be relieved on the bridge right now. Still, the doors would only have opened to authorized personnel that knew the correct code. He swiveled his chair to see who would enter. Too bad they hadn't put a window or something in the inner doors but that would make them less secure.

Then the inner door hissed and retracted into the wall revealing a hulking form standing in the short corridor. Rolle immediately realized that he wasn't part of the crew and shouldn't be here. His hand already drew his pistolette as he jumped out of his chair. But it was already too late.

VVV

Counselor Ashan calmly observed the Centauri taskforce entrusted to his care. They should have been honored by the knowledge that they would give their lives for the chosen of God. They were not. Their masters had found out early in the war that these Centauri needed encouragement to overcome their fear of the enemy. 'The enemy,' Ashan thought. 'Had been relentless. They were already driven back to Z'Ha'Dum itself and still they kept coming. One of them had managed to board a Drakh cruiser and killed a quarter of the crew before it was stopped. Then again, one could expect little else from mere…'

"Counselor Ashan, one of the Centauri vessels is showing an increase in its energy signature."

"Are they preparing to fire?" He queried.

"No, they have not targeted anyone nor has their weaponry been activated."

"Show me." And a holographic image appeared in front of Ashan's console showing the Vorchan.

The other kept an eye on his own console and now gave an update. "The Centauri commander is asking them what they are doing, no response so far."

Suddenly it hit Ashan. "Target that Vorchan," he ordered. "Destroy it immediately." But it was already too late as the aforementioned Vorchan changed course and was now on speeding towards the Primus overtaxing its engines as it picked up speed rapidly. Before anyone could react the Vorchan dived into the belly of the battlecruiser. First the nose of the Vorchan crumpled then the armor of the Primus buckled.

The rest of the collision was obscured by the explosion of the overloaded reactor of the Vorchan. A second explosion followed close behind and the combined energy blast washed over the stunned taskforce. Debris of Centauri and Drakh ships was sent hurling into every direction, the only survivor the cruiser.

It had been tossed away by the explosion as well but was still mostly intact. Missing one of its hind legs it could still fly and fire its weapons. 'Yes,' Ashan thought as he recovered himself, 'at least his ship could still fight.'

TBC


	37. Realizations

Author's notes: It seems nobody needs a forum here so I will just have to answer your reviews individually. I might be a bit forgetful at times and answer your review twice or not at all. And as we are on the subject of reviews, I noticed a lot of people read the last chapter but almost nobody posted a review. 

Please, rectify that after you read this chapter. I would greatly appreciate it to hear you enjoyed the story. In fact, I would even appreciate it if you wrote in just to say what you didn't like about the story. So whether you like my story or not, do read and review.

Last but not least I want to thank my betareaders for their work. Now on with the story.

**Realizations**

'Believe me, that was a happy age, before the days of architects, before the days of builders.'  
- Seneca

**USS _Odyssey_, Captain Walker's Quarters**  
They were lying in the bed, dozing off staring at the wall and beyond. Peter was lying in Sandra's arms and she was absent-mindedly toying with his hair. It needed a haircut soon. "Are you nervous at all about tomorrow?"

Peter didn't respond immediately. "Yes, a bit. Never had millions of sentients watching me so I am definitely feeling a bit apprehensive. But it has to be done. It's the best way to get our side of the story out."

"I am betting Ivanova isn't happy about it either," Sandra mused to herself. "She is an EarthForce officer, not a journalist and now you just dumped it on her to do an interview with you. You're not even going to go over the questions with her beforehand."

Peter now sounded puzzled. "But if I already knew the questions before I went in then I could rehearse the answers. That would defeat the purpose of the interview, I could suffice with a statement then."

Sandra looked down upon him, silently shaking her head. "You really are an odd one, you do know that. And I am not just talking about this incident alone. I would be very hard stretched to find a man that had never been intimate at your age."

Peter turned around to look her in the eyes. Smiling he said, "ah but you love me anyway. Besides," he added as he closed the distance between their lips," I haven't heard any complaints yet."

"Well," she intoned mischievously," I do think you could use some training."

"I would be happy to oblige you," Peter said before locking lips with her. Few words were spoken after that.

**Babylon 5, Studio of Voice of Resistance  
**"Welcome to Voice of Resistance, where the truth is back in business." That is how Ivanova began the broadcast. "In today's broadcast we're going to do things a little different than usual because today I have a guest here in the studio. Starfleet Captain Peter Walker of the USS _Odyssey_ who will be answering some questions."

The camera zoomed out a little to show Captain Walker sitting on her left, who was clearly somewhat nervous. Ivanova continued, "Now I should warn the viewers that this will be live so if anything goes wrong, you can blame the technicians."

She turned to face Walker and addressed him now. "I suppose the first question should be why you agreed to this?"

"The reasons for wanting this interview are twofold: the immediate reason that prompted us was the fact that our origins were revealed several days ago."

"But rumors about where the Federation is located have been around since your arrival."

"Yes, but now most governments know for a fact where we come from. The need to keep it a secret is therefore gone. And to tie in with our reasons for this interview, we also wanted to counter the lies ISN has been spreading."

"I see. Well then, what is the Federation and where do you come from?"

The Captain collected his thoughts before he answered. "The United Federation of Planets is an interstellar nation compromised out of some 150 members who have banded together under the unifying goals of universal liberty, equality, peaceful coexistence, trade, exploration and mutual defense. The Federation was founded about 200 years ago by Vulcan, Andor, Tellar and Earth. You see, we are from an alternate reality."

"A bold claim, but viewers might want some more proof," Ivanova reacted.

Walker gave her a pointed look. "You mean besides the fact that our crews are compromised, besides us humans, out of a host of races not found anywhere in known space and our wildly disparate technology base?"

Ivanova smiled. "Besides that. For example, how did you first find out that you were in fact in an alternate reality?"

Walker nodded. "Well our first clue was the fact that our star charts suddenly didn't match with what we could see around us. Oh, there was still enough the same to say for certain that this was the Milky Way Galaxy but that was it. There were others but the definitive clue was the quantum resonance signature of surrounding matter. It differed from our own and then we knew we were no longer in our home universe."

Of course Susan had heard all of this already, but others hadn't. "So you found yourself in a strange galaxy, what did you do?"

Walker smiled. "We explored," he simply said. "Of course it wasn't that simple. We tried to find any remains of the anomaly that brought us here but couldn't find anything. When it looked that we would be here for a while, we decided to set a course for the one thing that looked familiar to us."

"Earth," Ivanova concluded.

"The Earth Solar system was identical to the one we had left just a few weeks before then. It even had humans," then Walker's voice became more serious, "but they weren't like the people we knew."

"This was around the time that Clark declared martial law," Susan supplied for the viewer.

"We arrived just in time to see how Earth was turned into a totalitarian state, not afraid to kill its own citizens."

"You are talking about the bombing of the Mars domes?"

"Yes, perhaps you could show the viewers what I am talking about? I believe we have supplied you with the sensor logs."

Ivanova turned now and looked to someone off camera with inquiring eyes. Apparently they could show it because the studio was replaced by the image of two thunderbolts flying low over Martian soil. They could hear a voice, probably belonging to one of the pilots. "Standing by, weapons hot."

He was interrupted by another man pleading, "don't do it. We got women and children down here. Don't do it!"

A third voice could now be heard, it didn't betray any emotions as he sealed those people's fate. "Omega One, you are clear to drop." And with that two missiles streaked out from one of the fighters moving towards one of the glass domes dotting the ground. A large explosion followed as the weapons struck.

Walker spoke up. "Our sensors confirmed later that 11,000 people died. Most due to suffocation as the air was no longer contained within the dome." You could hear that he was still appalled at this.

"And that was what prompted you to come to the defense of Babylon 5?"

"We had practical considerations also, like the fact that this was neutral space. But for me personally I also realized that this station with a quarter of a million sentients would be as vulnerable as those domes. And then there was the goal of the station, the reason it was built. Peaceful coexistence is one of the founding ideals of the Federation as well."

"That doesn't stop you from having heavily armed ships. But you're not here to conquer anything, correct?"

"Ah, no. The Federation only expands through peaceful means like colonization and by accepting new members. So the allegation of ISN that we have cast a hungry eye on the Earth Alliance is ludicrous. In fact, I am afraid that the EA wouldn't be allowed to join even if they applied at the moment. But that would go for most of the nations here."

Susan didn't expect that answer, she was tempted to ask if that included the Minbari. But that would just open up another can of worms so she kept to her prepared questions. "And the other information ISN supposedly dug up on the Federation?"

"Not true of course. How could it be? If they actually had a way to look into another quantum reality I would be rather eager to know how. My crew and I would very much appreciate a way to at least know what is going on back home and let our loved ones know we are still alive.

He paused. "But we do not have some kind of Orwellian thought police, torture chambers and who knows what else has been hidden in the fantasies of the ISN reporters. No, we do not have any organizations or laws for telepaths. The simple fact is, we never assumed that they were a danger to begin with as your government has done. I have seen nothing since our arrival here that would change my mind on this subject."

"And the claims that the Federation is actually ruled by aliens and that the humans in it are a client race, little more then servants?"

Walker laughed. "Not true. In fact, back home the allegations are usually that it is a 'Homo Sapiens only club'. There, they actually worry about the allure of human culture." He shook his head. "So the answer is no, the Federation is a partnership between equals. I know it seems a bit strange for most people around these parts but we honestly can't imagine not living this way. The advantages are so obvious that I sometimes wonder why so few other races try it."

**Earth, Earth Dome**  
"Let Minister Lantz know I want to talk to him as soon as possible." Clark let go of the intercom button. He had just finished watching that most interesting interview with Captain Walker. He had already read Lefcourt's report on the supposed origins of these Starfleeters, but the source was questionable. Just who or what that Q thing was remained a mystery and it could have been a deception.

Then again, this 'interview' could be too. But something told him it wasn't. Them being from another universe would indeed fit nicely with what they did know about them and his own scientists had told him that in theory at least these alternate universes could exist. And if the Starfleeters were really alone out here, without any hope of getting in touch with their government then they were more vulnerable then he thought.

It meant that the plan that the Ministry of Peace had put forward could go ahead after all. He had been skeptical about whether their operative could have been as successful in his recruitment drive as reported but with this news that didn't even matter much anymore. He still had at least 25 Omegas upgraded with Shadow technology ready to strike at his command and one of them was parked right next to that infernal station. Yes, Operation Silent Strike seemed a lot more feasible now.

**Alpha Omega, USS _Phoenix_**  
So far they had hidden themselves in hyperspace, silently observing events from there. But they had reached the end of what that could do for them, it was time to sneak into normal space. "Is the probe ready?" Thalev inquired.

"It is standing by, Captain." Data confirmed. At Thalev's command the _Phoenix_ opened up a jump point and the probe dived into it followed by a cloaked _Phoenix_. But outside observers saw something else. They saw a Whitestar emerge from a swirling blue vortex that closed behind it. The blue-skinned ship didn't waste much time, after a quick survey of its surroundings it dived back into hyperspace.

"Any signs we were detected Ensign Dean?" There weren't any and the crew could now proceed with the actual task of gathering information. "Alright, Ensign Harris set a course for this asteroid near the fifth planet." The tap Thalev gave on his console sent the necessary coordinates to the Helm allowing Harris to set the correct course. But Thalev wasn't finished with his orders. "Launch the stealth probe, program it to send a narrow band transmission to that asteroid once it reaches its destination."

VVV

Galen was getting tired. He had spent two days now observing the ongoing battle here at Z'Ha'Dum. He had tried to enter Vorlon territory first but that proved impossible. Their borders were still too well guarded so he decided to try his luck here. And it here he did meet success.

The Shadows had been hit hard and in response they had focussed all their attention on this unknown enemy giving Galen the opportunity to slip into the system undetected. He had landed his ship here, on this asteroid that was far enough from the fighting and had used his abilities at illusion to prevent attracting any attention. It worked so far but he would not dare to sleep here, in the lair of the Shadows.

Despite two days of undisturbed observation on the Shadows' enemies they remained an enigma. All that he could say for certain was that none of their crafts seemed to be manned. That and they possessed technology unlike anyone else he had seen or heard about. Energy shields, weapons that disrupted matter itself and a strange form of FTL travel that had nothing to do with hyperspace.

He had considered the possibility they had some relation with the Federation but the differences between those two factions' technologies were as big as the similarities. There was also the question how they communicated. He had detected no tachyon emissions of any kind from them.

The most recent surprise didn't come from them however but from a Whitestar that had briefly entered the system before leaving again. The odd thing was that its tachyon scans hadn't been focussed enough to detect anything. Alas, Galen couldn't dare to scan too thoroughly himself lest he be detected. He turned his attention back to the carnage.

VVV

The _Phoenix_ had arrived at its hiding place, sliding into the rock itself and keeping sensors at a bare minimum. They would let the probe do all the scanning so that if they were detected, it would most likely be the probe. Of course this action had startled his guests as he had neglected to tell them what the phase cloak was capable of. Then his right antenna twitched as he belatedly realized he had just revealed this capability to the EarthForce officer as well.

But the safety of his crew was more important. "Is the probe in position yet?"

"A few more seconds sir," Ensign Dean told him. Seconds seemed an eternity in this situation but finally the probe made contact and now they could see with their own eyes what the Shadows were fighting. The first impression was how massive this battle was as a wide angled shot zoomed in on some of the specks to show in more detail what was going on.

They all watched silently how hundreds of Shadow ships threw themselves at the fight with new ships shimmering into existence every minute. Groups of Drakh, Centauri and other unidentifiable ships fought alongside them although they seemed to be less effective. But they all died, sometimes without even having had the opportunity to fire upon the enemy.

And that enemy had the strangest ships of all. Two types that both consisted out of geometric shapes and they were entering the fight through some kind of energy ribbons. Tears in the fabric of space that shone brightly as the black vessels emerged from them. The most numerous type was a simple design and small. Shaped like an octahedron with a clear crystal on what was apparently its front. An angular energy field encased the entire ship, giving the appearance it had been trapped inside a large red crystal.

Interspaced among them were ships that were ten times as big, consisting out of a rod with four round wings attached to it. It too had four crystals mounted on the wings front and back as well as an energy shield. They went head to head with the Shadow vessels and others, not seeming to care about their own safety.

There Neroon could see how a pack of the smaller ships charged at a battlecrab, firing green glowing beams at the glistening black vessel. The Shadow ship fired its weapon as well and each time it fired one of the small crafts exploded. But they were not ineffective themselves as the beams blasted of chunks of black armor. Not a lot but given that there were more than one ship firing it would soon be enough. Three fighters came up behind the battlecrab to relieve some of the pressure and for several seconds the craft seemed to just ignore them. Then one of the gunboats reacted and quickly fired three short bursts destroying them before they had even managed to score one kill. The battlecrab followed them into oblivion soon thereafter.

Vir saw two battlecrabs ganging up on one of the large ships that had gotten isolated from the rest. They both fired and both failed to do any damage, instead the energy impacted the shield without any visible effect. The return fire speared one battlecrab that exploded into pieces as the finned craft tried to link up again with its brethren. But the other battlecrab was in pursuit and attacked once again, this time penetrating the shield and slicing straight through the armor. Something inside the ship exploded and the resulting explosion hurt friend and foe alike in this close-quarters fight.

Colonel Carter saw a group of Drakh raiders supported by a wing of Sentris go at it with an equal amount of enemy ships in both size and numbers. Bluish-green quantum streams and small purple bolts whizzed by green energy beams as they came to blows. Unfortunately for the Drakh, the enemy's shielding held while their own armor didn't. A series of explosions broke up their formation and the geometrically shaped crafts jumped right in to make use of it. They effortlessly pivoted on one axis while continuing to fly in their previous direction to get the Raiders in their sights.

The Sentris tried desperately to help their allies and were now concentrating their fire on one ship. They finally managed to get past the shield that had suddenly winked out. Their plasma bolts slammed into the armor and holes began to appear but they were alone now. Before a critical hit could be scored the fighters were blasted out of existence after which the ships continued on in search of new targets. Even the still unshielded one although it was falling behind.

And so the battle went on. Here the Shadow allies managed to envelop and destroy a group of octahedrons while there a large enemy ship made mincemeat out of a Shadow scout and a large group of fighters with a quick succession of energy blasts. Ensign Dean's console began beeping. "Captain, sensors are detecting something massive making the transmission into normal space!"

The image on the viewscreen changed and they could now see what it was, a Shadow Planet Killer. A dark cloud that obscured the stars had materialized behind the Shadow fleet and it now moved to cover a part of the battlefield. Allied ships desperately moved out of the way but the enemy kept coming taking advantage of this mad dash to hit the careless ships. Then the cloud obscured their view, but bright explosions could still be seen signaling that ships kept on fighting in there.

More bright explosions followed and then the entire cloud began to light up from the inside. Following that event the cloud began to break up and they could see once more into that area now even more littered with debris. The bridge was silent as they considered the desperation needed to deploy a weapon meant to destroy worlds in a fleet battle.

But apparently the Shadows weren't the only ones with an ace up their sleeves. From three tears a new kind of ship appeared again with a geometric shape. They had the shape of a plus sign with a disc sticking out of the center. The disc was made from a different material than the rest of the ship. The disc was also not as thick as the four beams and each part of the disc had a pyramid shaped crystal. They also had a pulsating, white energy ball in the center and the whole craft was protected by the now familiar energy field.

Their appearance had an affect on the Shadows who began to attack with a new vigor, or perhaps desperation. But they were rebuffed for the moment and the crystals on the three ships began glowing green as if preparing to fire. But instead the energy flowed into the central aperture like water, giving the energy ball a sickly green glow as it began to grow. Then this process stopped too, quickly followed by the release of a bright green energy ball from the center that rapidly expanded once it had left the ship.

This energy ball was now far larger than a battlecrab as it swiftly moved across the battlefield and into the enemy armada. Everything in its path wasn't simply destroyed, it was annihilated. Neither Shadow nor Drakh armor provided the slightest form of protection but the scariest thing was what happened to a battlecrab that had only lost a few spines to the deadly ball.

Grey veins began to crawl from the wounds and the ship itself began shaking like a leaf, clearly in agony. A black blob shaped like a shuttle now left the dying battlecrab. It didn't get far though because it was blown up by an octahedron that had taken advantage of the path cleared by the big ship.

Ambassador Kani was the first to reach a conclusion about what they were seeing. "We are surely done for!" he exclaimed after which he left the bridge. Everyone watched him go, uncertain how serious and sane he was.

The Abbai ambassador however groaned, "Not again." But her eyes as most others were drawn back to the viewscreen where one of the three big ships had been destroyed by a jump point of a Drakh cruiser. Thalev himself refrained himself from asking questions and gave the order to contact Babylon 5.

"Let's just hope the other ambassadors won't share Kani's assessment of the situation," he muttered to himself.

**Babylon 5, Conference Room**  
It was the same room that they had gathered in about a week ago. Back then they had decided to send a ship to Z'Ha'Dum and now they were gathered to see what the _Phoenix_ had found. Seeing what was going on there in real-time wouldn't have been possible without the subspace communication network that the Starfleeters had laid. The same room, almost the same crowd with the exception of a few that were now on the _Phoenix_ and with the addition of Lyta Alexander. She was the closest thing to a First Ones expert they had, hopefully she could identify something.

Lyta was sitting on the right of Susan who in turn sat at Sheridan's right. To his left he had Delenn followed by Captain Walker. They used the central holoprojector again but this time it would project flat screens to show the images the _Phoenix_ sent them. For a moment considered how convoluted it was to use a three dimensional imaging device to produce two dimensional images but he abandoned that line of thinking when the first image appeared.

It was the bridge of the _Phoenix_ with Thalev in the middle and six of the observers standing above and behind him. They stood behind a curved, wooden railing. He mentally shook his head at that little detail. Even with a ship they rushed to build they took time to add luxuries like that. But Sheridan and Ambassador Vrokat didn't fail to notice that the Brakiri observer wasn't present.

"Babylon 5, are you receiving us?" Captain Thalev queried.

"We are receiving you," Sheridan confirmed, "but we can't see Ambassador Kani."

There was a delay for a second, given the fast distances involved he was amazed it was only that but the Starfleeters had actually apologized about it. Apparently they could have made it real time once they had the chance to place more subspace relays. But the reaction he got from Thalev was odd.

"The Ambassador returned to his quarters not long ago," Thalev said. His left antenna twitched barely as he spoke. "He has however seen the first images the probe sent back. Some kind of alien race we have never seen before is beating the Shadows."

"How badly are they loosing, Captain?"

Thalev looked over at Commander Data who answered. "Current projections indicate that the Shadows will loose within the next nine days."

Deafening silence greeted that statement as everybody was aghast at the implications.

"But the most startling information isn't in the imagery," Thalev added. "Peter," and everybody knew he was addressing Captain Walker directly, "they have subspace technology and disruptor-style weaponry."

"You failed to mention that their ships are equipped with energy shields Captain," Neroon informed everyone.

"That is because they aren't based on the same principles of any shielding technology in our database. The same goes for the strange FTL-drive they are using."

"Show us," Sheridan ordered. Thalev nodded and the image of the bridge was replaced by the chaos of the battlefield. They now saw what the people on the _Phoenix_ had seen only half an hour before. Shadow vessels, always held as neigh invincible were now struck down with impunity. That they took many of their opponents down as well wasn't so impressive as they were immediately replaced.

So intent was everyone on what was shown that no one noticed how a dreamy Lyta stood up and rounded the table until she had nearly reached the other side of the table. She had her back to everyone as Captain Walker finally noticed her odd behavior.

"Miss Alexander, is everything alright?"

At first she didn't respond, drawing more attention to herself. Then she turned around. Her eyes were black now as she addressed everyone present. Her voice had changed too; it held a quality of power now. "They have returned," she stated.

Sheridan, as well as most others present, grasped the fact that they weren't talking to Lyta anymore after a moment. "What are you?"

"A race memory. A warning to you should some threats resurface that we stopped long ago. I was triggered by those Builder ships. Those Eyes and Hands."

"What do you know about them? What are they?"

"A mistake, one of many. A punishment for our overconfidence. We," and all present knew she was talking about the Vorlons, "had just taken upon us to guide the younger races when we first came upon them. A race that had a natural affinity for order and a racial hate against chaos. We took them under our wings and taught them all we knew, once they were ready for it," she qualified.

"And when the time came to face the Shadows and their thralls they fought. Time and time again they defeated the forces of chaos. We took it as evidence that we were right and we were so blinded by our success that we never considered their darker side. We didn't heed the warning signs."

"They shunned the organic," she clarified, "seeing it as chaotic and kept using their mechanical ships. But their aversion didn't end there. They began replacing their own body parts with mechanical devices until they found a way to store their minds into computers. But since it made them even fiercer we did not care. Not long after that they suddenly made a leap in their technology."

"They replaced their jump drives for a strange form of FTL travel we had never seen before. Suddenly they possessed the secret to shields and began using an unknown directed-energy weapon. We never learned how exactly this radical change came about, but we soon suffered the consequences. During the last Great War they were out of control, sterilizing entire planets with their Hammers." Captain Walker gave a snort at that little bit of hypocrisy.

"When we told them to stop, they listened but we should have realized that they were deceiving us. A year after the war ended, they attacked everyone. Younger Races and First Ones alike died as the Builders had declared that all life was chaos and as such all life should be destroyed. For the next ten years we fought until finally we had subdued their fleets and lade waste to their planets. Certain that the Builders were no more we took steps to ensure that this would never happen again, but we were wrong."

"What kind of steps?" Walker asked wearily.

Lyta ignored him. "The Builders had planned for their own failure and hidden fleets across space. We stumbled upon one of them before it could be activated and after an extensive search we thought we had destroyed all of them. Two centuries later a fleet we missed was activated. Several races were wiped out before we could intervene. And their legacy now threatens you, for if we cannot stop them than that responsibility falls upon you. They will not cease until all life is gone. Until every sentient, animal, plant and microbe is ash."

That final announcement was made even more dramatic as they suddenly lost the feed from the _Phoenix_.

**Alpha Omega**  
"Alien underspace signals have been detected emanating from an object near the combat area." For a few moments there was silence as the intelligence analyzed his findings. "Scan results incomplete due to a scattering field of unknown configuration. One coherent signal is directed to an asteroid near the fifth planet. Analysis of sensor logs for that area indicates the asteroid now has several elements not found in nearby asteroids. Conclusion: a ship is hiding there." It sent the recommendation to divert a Hand and four Eyes to investigate the situation. It was approved.

VVV

Galen had closed his eyes just for a second. Just to give them some rest and so he missed the first warning he had been found. A bright tear in space erupted not too far from his hiding place and five ships emerged from it. First the smaller ships followed up by the larger one which fired upon the asteroid immediately. By that time Galen had spotted them though and he was already preparing to leave.

And not a moment too soon as the beam dug into the same crater his ship had occupied only a second before. Apparently he had overstayed his welcome and underestimated their abilities. He concluded it was time to leave and make his report to the Circle. After he had finally done some sleeping. But his pursuers weren't cooperating, somehow they were jamming his jump engines. He couldn't leave!

His craft's sublight drive strained as he put it through a series of wild maneuvers that barely dodged their energy beams. His pinnace had weapons but he doubted he could destroy all of those ships before they got him. Nevertheless, unless something changed very soon he would have to try.

VVV

Thalev's first fear was that these aliens had somehow pierced their cloak when Ensign Dean reported a tear had opened on their starboard. But then he realized something he should have thought of before. So used had he become to the fact that nobody in this universe knew of subspace that he had let the probe use active sensors. He had reasoned that if anybody did find the probe, they would never be able to find out where it sent its data to.

But these aliens were acquainted with subspace and although it was difficult to track a narrow band transmission, it wasn't impossible. His hopes that they thought that he was hiding near the asteroid and not in it were dashed when the big ship fired.

Of course he immediately ordered Harris to get them out of there and to up the sensors from bare minimum. And that is when they had gotten their latest surprise. Apparently it had been a popular rock since another ship took off from the same asteroid. And it was that ship the aliens now followed.

"That's a technomage ship," Vir answered when Thalev asked if the black, triangular vessel could be identified.

Thalev turned around in his seat. "Technomage?" he asked.

"They are a group of people that use technology to create the effect of magic," Vir explained. "I thought they had all left this part of space to get away from the coming war."

"Well apparently one of them came back," Thalev retorted. He was in a quandary. On the one hand he had no idea if these technomages were friendly or not. On the other this particular ship would have observed the proceedings here far longer then they. And it was his actions that had blown the Technomages' cover.

"Captain," Ensign Dean called for his attention, "they are emitting some kind of quantum resonance signal. We can't enter hyperspace and I wager neither can those Technomages." The situation of said technomages was made worse by a glancing hit that shook the small craft.

No more time. "Get us in front of that Technomage ship and standby to decloak. As soon as you have, grab it with the tractor beam and get us out of here. Warp 2. Also tell Transporter Room to get a lock on the people inside, just in case." The ship accelerated from its position to the left and slightly behind the pursuers. The maneuver was made even riskier by the fact that they were still shooting at the black craft.

They just decloaked as the pilot ran out of luck. One beam bit into the right wing of the ship and it began to break apart as another beam hit it. The geometrically shaped ships continued on for two seconds before their weapons began powering up again. Thalev had no intention to wait and see what they would do. "Get us out of here now!"

The ship leaped away before it could be fired upon and only after they had managed to get away did Thalev contact the Transporter operator to see if they actually rescued anybody. "Tranporter Room, please tell me you got them."

"Something interfered with the targeting scanner sir, I only managed to get one and he is badly injured."

TBC


	38. The Squalls of life

Author's notes: Well this one has been a long time coming. And finally it is here. It's not the chapter I had in mind but that has been true for several chapters. I would like to thank the folks at Alpha Clan Elite writers for giving suggestions, the reviewers for caring enough to keep asking when I would finally get off my lazy ahem and get that chapter done and my betareaders for swiftly responding once I got it finished.

I don't think my future updates will take this long, but I make no promises. This story will get finished, I don't care how long it takes.

Now on with the story!

**The Squalls of life**

'It takes a real storm in the average person's life to make him realize how much worrying he has done over the squalls.'  
-Bruce Barton

**USS _Phoenix_, Sickbay**  
Captain Thalev briskly entered the room barely stopping to greet. "You had some news on our patient, Doctor?"

"Yes," Mallen responded. "I patched him up but there were some anomalies I thought you should be aware of before you talk to him."

Thalev kept silent and only looked inquisitive. He knew Mallen was competent but also had a penchant for gossiping. Part of that meant she had the somewhat annoying habit of using dramatic pauses in her verbal reports. Luckily, she didn't wait too long. She was just too excited about what she had found.

"I found a large number of cyber-organic implants riddled throughout his body. Some of them are holographic projectors, simpler but also smaller then any we have. But I haven't been able to identify what most of them do yet, although I do think he used a few of them to pilot his ship. But that isn't the real kicker, you see I am certain they are based on Shadow technology!"

Thalev's antennae rose up at hearing that. "That means our guest could be a security risk. Lieutenant Summers has been notified I take it?"

"Oh yes, I gave her a heads up the moment I found them."

VVV

Galen awoke by opening one bleary eye first. His right eye, which stared up at an odd ceiling that was emitting light. Not so much to blind him but he blinked nonetheless before bolting upright with both eyes opening wide in surprise as he couldn't access his abilities. He couldn't even sense his ship.

But that reaction caused some disorientation, which was why he didn't notice immediately that he wasn't alone in the room. But when he saw the alien woman from the corner of his left eye he turned his head to regard her fully while sweeping the room with his eyes. There were three people with him and only the one standing at the door was human, he was also armed.

He recognized the uniforms and as he recalled what had happened before he lost consciousness he arrived at the conclusion that the Federationists must have yanked him out of his ship as it was breaking up. It was an impressive enough a feat even if his pinnace wasn't exactly in top condition at the time. He had done his utmost to throw off everybody's sensors and he knew a little bit about how the Federation's teleporter worked. Enough to know how accurate a scan they would need to pull it off. So now he knew why he couldn't sense his ship anymore, but that didn't explain why the rest of his abilities were gone. None of his implants seemed to be working.

Could they have been damaged in the moments that his ship was falling apart around him, right before they had plucked him out of it? Or was it a side effect of their transporter? These thoughts raced through his mind in the blink of an eye and then he calmed himself. Even without the implants he still had his knowledge to give him an edge.

"Tell me Captain, do all your guests get such a warm reception?" He looked pointedly at the armed guard when he spoke that last bit.

"Only those who may pose a security risk, such as yourself, mister…?"

Galen smiled a little, "Call me Galen, just Galen. And how could I possibly pose any danger to you or your ship, Captain…?"

Thalev's antennae came a little closer together as he replied affably, "I am Captain Thalev and this is Doctor Mallen. As for the reason you may pose a security risk is the fact that we found the cybernetic implants in your body. By themselves, those wouldn't be a cause for alarm. But the fact that they are clearly of Shadow origin and the fact that we found you in their home system leads us to the possibility you are an ally of them. And the Shadows aren't exactly friendly with us."

'_So they were responsible for deactivating them. Then it was unlikely that they would reactivate themselves later on, he had to rely solely on his wits for the time being.'_ But Thalev wasn't finished.

"However, what little information we have of your organization told us you all had left this region to escape the conflict brewing between the Shadows and the Vorlons. Coupled with the fact that you obviously recognized our uniforms and rank insignia leads me to conclude you were sent back to investigate our arrival here and after the latest developments, the appearance of these Builders. How am I doing so far, Galen?"

'_A little too well, Captain.'_ Galen thought, although he had only himself to blame. Appearing sage-like and knowledgeable came so natural that he hadn't thought of playing dumb. _'Oh well, water under the bridge.'_ "You are correct, for the most part. But my journey to Z'Ha'Dum was, I am afraid, done on my own discretion and I do not think my superiors will be happy about the fact that it cost me my ship."

Thalev smiled. "I can imagine they wouldn't. At the moment we are on our way back to Babylon 5, till then we will treat you as a guest. I do however have a request."

"And that would be?"

"Well, we haven't been able to observe the battle raging at Z'Ha'Dum for long. But I believe you have and any information you could share would help us out immensely." He raised his hand to forestall any argument although Galen hadn't opened his mouth yet. "I know your ship and all the sensor data it carried were destroyed. But we know your mind was connected to the ship and I'm betting you're carrying the important stuff in your head."

The most amazing thing was that Galen wasn't that surprised they had already determined the function of at least some of his implants. His previous encounters with Federation sensors had given him a healthy respect for their abilities. "I did learn a few things about these Builders, although far less then I would have liked. But with my implants inoperable I can't be of much help."

"Ah" was all Thalev said for a moment. "The problem, Galen, I have with your organization is that you didn't warn the other races of what the Vorlons and the Shadows were up to. Something you obviously were aware of, hence your flight to parts unknown. I do not condemn you for running away, but I do frown upon an organization that didn't even bother to warn anybody of what was coming."

"And do you think anybody would have listened?" Galen interjected. "We made something of a show of our departure and were not shy about voicing our reasons for it. So you see, we did actually warn them and it didn't change anything. Captain, even if you do not trust me I must implore you to reactivate my implants. Even if your method of deactivating them didn't damage them, without power they will wither and replacing them would be impossible."

Thalev looked over to Mallen. "Is that true Doctor?"

She rubbed her chin, contemplating what she knew and what it implicated. "Perhaps. I couldn't be selective so I deactivated whatever maintained the cybernetics along with everything else. Coupled with the fact that all specimens of Shadow technology I have encountered so far are at least semi-organic I would say it is likely that a prolonged period of dormancy would affect the implants adversely."

"And Mister Galen's comment about them being irreplaceable confirms a suspicion I had." After which she fell silent. Thalev held back a sigh and instead asked her to continue. "I would have found evidence of the surgery if that were the method used to get them integrated into his body. But since I didn't find any evidence for it, they must have been grown inside of him instead."

"Very well." And Thalev turned his gaze to Galen again. "I will let the Doctor reactivate those implants again if you agree to wear a device that will monitor them and promise not to make use of them during your stay on board this ship unless asked to do so."

"I can agree to those terms, Captain." Thalev nodded and motioned to the doctor to proceed. She grabbed a small device from a tray and then moved towards him. He was startled somewhat when a force field deactivated between them. He hadn't even realized it was there. As Mallen placed it on the right side of his neck he turned to the Captain. "So, where do I sign up for a tour of this ship?"

VVV

"So the technomage has agreed to provide us with some of the information he has gathered but so far most of it only confirms our own, far shorter readings." Thalev concluded. Gathered in the Ready Room were the various ambassadors with the exception of ambassador Kani who refused to come out even now.

"Have your analysis of their shielding technology yielded any new facts?" Kalika, the Abbai ambassador, asked.

Thalev nodded," A few interesting tidbits have come to light." He manipulated a control and a holographic schematic appeared above the table depicting the smallest type of the Builder's warships. "As you can see, the shield is not a bubble but follows the contours of the ship. The reason for that is that they don't have a complete shield system."

"How do you mean, complete?" Neroon asked.

Thalev rallied his thoughts before speaking. "Our own shielding system as well as that of the Abbai," and that produced an uncomfortable look from Kalika but Thalev ignored it, "form a complete bubble around the ship. Oh, we ourselves do use several shield generators to protect different sections but they overlap so if one fails others can step in. Not so with these Builders, they seem to be using a central generator, which then feeds the energy to several projectors. These shield projectors project a flat field of a certain size and in such a position that they fit almost seamlessly together.

"The drawbacks of this setup are numerous. The gaps in the shield are too small for any weapon to punch through but explosions can damage the shield if the ship is facing it at the wrong angle. And it also seems that they can't recharge the shields when they are active, which means they are not so resilient during sustained engagements."

"Unfortunately, it seems these Builders have based their tactics on attrition." Neroon supplied. "And these shields of theirs will allow their ships to survive long enough to take out any single opponent, I have seen how effective their weapons are."

"But they would first have to hit your ships." Vir pointed out. Neroon turned his gaze upon the Centauri. "If they can't get a lock," Vir went on a bit nervously, "they can't hit you and the shields don't make them invulnerable. Not that I am saying you should come to the rescue of the Shadows, or share your stealth technology with the rest of us but..." And then he petered out.

Neroon's reply, however, was courteous. "The real problem is that our stealth is not as impervious as we once believed," and he looked at Captain Thalev now. "You mentioned that the scanners of the Builders are based on the same principles as your own. How good are they?"

"Unsophisticated compared to our own," Thalev answered. "Their subspace scanner works somewhat similar to early radar, it sends out a 'ping' in subspace and the return signals are then used to reconstruct an image of local space. But these 'pings' have a very low frequency, about one a minute. We believe they compensate for this by sharing their data. Each ship is linked with every other ship, which makes them great at fleet maneuvers. But even with those drawbacks, they will have no problem with targeting Minbari ships."

Neroon nodded to himself, apparently expecting the answer. He stared intently upon the hologram, seemingly looking beyond it into a universe only he could see. An unpleasant universe. They needed something to even the odds, and right now the only likely source was four small starships. And Neroon knew that the Starfleet captain knew it too.

VVV

After the retreat from Z'ha'dum, the mood in the bar had dwindled significantly. The events there had managed to put a damper even on the Starfleet personnel. These new aliens were attacking a race that was old by anyone's standards and they were winning. The question was would they continue their aggression or stop when they destroyed the aliens on Z'ha'dum? Carter was now convinced that Lefcourt's original assurance that Earth Alliance could stay out of this fight was incorrect. But Samantha wasn't sure if her superiors would share her assessment.

Every single ambassador and the Starfleeters onboard were concerned about the war and apparently with good reason. She was far more afraid that these Builders would continue their assault and eventually attack Earth than any Federation invasion her superiors had been planning against when she left Earth. She was becoming increasingly sceptical about the latter threat. She had already sent a brief report with her own impressions of these Builders to General Lefcourt but a detailed report couldn't be sent over a Federation transmitter.

So in an attempt to distract herself, she continued with the other part of her mission. This ship and its technologies were utterly fascinating and every little gadget pulled her in like a moth to a flame. The food processors were stunning in and on themselves and she found herself ordering small foodstuffs simply to see the replicator, as they called it, operate. The cloaking field used by this ship was nothing short of magic, making the ship not only invisible but immaterial as well. And its crew as well, more specifically Commander Data, offered a bonanza of technological breakthroughs if only she could take a peek behind the curtain. The android was a magnificent creation and literally demanded to be studied by the best of the best.

Its motor functions alone were more advanced than anything Earth Alliance could develop in the next hundred or more years and yet the Federation wouldn't even study it properly. She had said so much to Data and his reply had been flustering, commenting that creating a race of androids like him and then treating them like simple automatons was simply the reinstitution of slavery. He had told her that with a hint of anger in his voice but he gave her his arguments for that position with his normal calm voice. Even now, she couldn't actually counter his arguments without descending into the assertion that some people were intrinsically less then others. A view others might be comfortable with, but not her.

These people were really different, something that may have been obvious but it kept surprising her. She just hadn't expected such alienness from fellow humans. The door opened and Commander Data entered. He proceeded to order a drink and then headed towards her and sat down.

"I believe, Commander that we had not completed our conversation," he said politely after which he took a sip of his drink.

"Er, no," she replied. "We hadn't." But she forgot what she wanted to say when his face crunched up after his sip and asked instead, "Ordered the wrong drink?"

"No, this had been recommended by Captain Thalev. He assured me this was the vilest concoction known to the Andorian race. I concur." And he proceeded to take another gulp from it, actually shivering this time.

Carter didn't know how to look. "Then why are you drinking it?"

"Because I," and Data paused for a moment as he looked for the right word, "appreciate the sensation of tasting something awful as much as something which is tasty. To me, both have equal value because the very ability to decide if something tastes bad or not is so new to me."

Carter nodded, faintly understanding what he was saying but having no idea how to respond. So instead, she changed the subject. "Actually I had a different question," she started carefully. "How did you people ever come up with the idea of a real-space FTL-drive?" she asked. She was certain now that the General's warning had been unnecessary, these people just didn't operate like that. If she asked them something and they didn't want to tell her the answer they simply told her so.

"In our universe, warp drive is the common means to travel. There are a few races that do use other means, the Iconians for example used gateways to instantaneously travel from one place to another. Those are the exception however and most races tend to develop warp propulsion on their own."

"But that's impossible." It should be anyway, she couldn't come up with any race that had developed jumpgates on their own. Except for the Vorlons, but even with them she wasn't so certain.

"Apparently not, Colonel Carter."

"Alright, then when did humanity develop this warp drive?"

"On Earth Zefram Cochrane developed the warp drive several years after World War III. Because of the devastation that war had wrought, Cochrane had a very limited infrastructure on which to rely on. He designed and built the ship mostly by himself, although assisted in the latter task by several others. The Phoenix, as he christened the ship was a converted Titan V ICBM and he had to use the warhead to power the warp drive. Still, he surpassed the warp barrier on April 5, 2063."

"You're telling me that in your reality, humanity achieved faster-then-light travel not by some second Manhatten Project but a group of civilians. Did they build it in their shed or something?"

"Actually, they used an abandoned missile silo for its construction. But why are you so surprised, the principles behind the warp drive are not that complicated and were already theorized about in the late 20th century."

"Really? By whom?"

"I am sorry Colonel Carter," Data said. "But I do not believe it would be in Starfleet's best interest if I pointed Earth Alliance to where the idea of the warp drive came from."

"But I know that the Federation has shared some of its technology with the Minbari as well as Captain Sheridan and his renegades."

"Yes, but they are not EarthForce, an organization that not only has reacted with hostility towards us but has shown questionable judgement in other matters as well."

"But we need this information," she protested. "Earth has many enemies and you were created by Humans. There must be something in you that can help you understand what we've gone through."

"I can relate to you quite well, Colonel. But I will not divulge any information that will give Earth Alliance an advantage."

"But you gave others enough information and technology to change the balance of power in our region of space."

"Not true," he countered. "The Minbari were already recognized as the greatest power in this region and in any case, we merely loaned them some equipment. Equipment they may try to copy, but they will have to do so without our aid. And as for Babylon 5, we merely provided them with the tools they needed to have a chance against a common enemy, the Shadows."

"Then you are condemning Humanity to slavery."

"No, we are not."

"You may not be able to see it," Carter pressed on. "But one day it will. We are not your enemies."

"And yet your leadership seems determined to cast the Federation in that role. But why do you automatically assume that the only relation between sentient species must that be of master and slave?"

Carter looked perplexed. "Because that seems to be how every race thinks."

"'Nothing is easy to the unwilling', Thomas Fuller. If you know that it is wrong then why participate in such behavior? In my own universe humanity learned from its past and helped found the Federation. Your own history only diverges somewhat in the 21st century, yet here you are. Still making the same mistakes humanity made back in the 20th century."

Carter stood up, her face unreadable. "I should let you not enjoy your drink in peace. I have…some thinking to do. Goodbye, Commander."

**Deep Space Babylon, Conference Room 8**  
Commander Iceren was standing next to the wall-mounted display showing a map of local space. Captain Turol had just taken a seat a long with the last of the other officers that had been invited to this meeting. Iceren didn't waste time on pleasantries, "The analysis you are about to see hasn't been seen by anyone but me and my staff, not even Captain Walker has been informed of our conclusions." The last words were accompanied by a nod to the aforementioned officer. " As you know, Captain Walker tasked me with analyzing the impact this new race would have on the strategic situation based on their known and conjectured capabilities and intentions. The results are not encouraging."

Nobody interrupted him, they all knew things were not good. What they didn't know was how bad things were going to be. Iceren continued, "I should note that at this time, we don't know for certain what their long term goals are. Or even if they have them, this could simply be about punishing the Vorlons and Shadows for what they did to them."

"But you don't believe that," Santowitz concluded.

"No, sir, I don't. What they did to Pretal IV shows they are not strictly focussed on these First Ones. As far as we can tell, the inhabitants posed no threat so it does lend credence to Miss Alexander's claim that their agenda is to commit mass genocide. In any case, in our analysis we assumed the worst, that Miss Alexander's information concerning the Builders' intentions is completely accurate. Based on that we have come up with several scenarios, not all of which are likely to happen."

"The first scenario, the one that offers the greatest chance of victory is if the Vorlons ask for help from us and the other races within the next seven days. Combined, the Vorlons and the other, so-called Younger, races possess enough ships to stop the Builder fleet."

"But that is not likely to happen," Walker said. "How long will the Vorlons be able to hold out without outside help?"

"We can't say for certain. It is believed that Vorlon territory is vast, far larger than the Shadows' holdings."

"I am hearing a 'but', Commander." Boris remarked.

Iceren nodded. "While it may be larger, Vorlon military assets must be about equal to those of the Shadows. Otherwise their war would have been concluded long ago, I believe that only a few planets are inhabited and that many of the systems they claim are not developed in any way."

"Makes sense, so how long would you bet those suits will last Commander?"

"Two weeks," Iceren supplied without hesitation. "If I have to be more precise I would say twelve days after the Builders take out Z'Ha'Dum."

"But the Shadows lasted longer," Yatoshi noted. Santowitz answered before Iceren could, he had nodded to himself when Iceren had given his answer. Apparently he had expected such an answer. "Yep, but those shady characters faced a Builder fleet that was fighting on two fronts. But once the Shadows are gone the Vorlons will get the Builders' undivided attention and the Vorlons themselves must have lost a few ships already by now."

Yatoshi nodded. "And that is why you said the Vorlons needed to ask for help within the next seven days, isn't it Commander." Yatoshi now reasoned. "Beyond that time, the ships just can't be gathered fast enough in sufficient numbers to make a difference."

"Yes, it's a simple matter of logistics. Of course the Builders themselves will have to regroup too but since we don't know how fast their method of FTL travel is, I can't say how much extra time that might buy. In any case, like Captain Walker we have judged this scenario unlikely to happen which means that it is just the Younger races and us that will have to face them.

"We can't predict with any certainty what the Builders will do after they have taken out the Vorlons, but we can rule out random attacks. So far their attacks clearly show that they are following a systematic strategy based on slow and coherent advances, a steamroller approach instead of a blitzkrieg one."

Santowitz grumbled a bit at that, expecting your enemy to keep up a certain pattern was dangerous. Even more so, when you knew so little about how he thought in the first place. But without any way of detecting these Builders before they attacked they would still have the element of surprise even if their objectives were predictable.

Iceren continued, "Assuming this, we believe that the Builders have two courses of actions open to them that are equally attractive. To them anyway. The first one, the one I personally believe they will follow, is based on the observation that they went for the most powerful race first. If that holds true then the Minbari will be their first target. Either them or us but our limited numbers as well as the fact that Minbari territory lies adjacent to the Vorlon Empire would make them the more attractive target. And once the Minbari are gone, I am afraid we will not be able to stop the Builders.

"Both the Centauri and the EA are severely weakened and just don't have the numbers anymore to give the Builders pause. The LONAW is too divided. Captain Sheridan has managed to unite them against the Shadows and the Vorlons but he leans heavily on Minbari support to give the League its backbone. Without that, the various governments will never give him enough ships to make an effective fleet and taken separately, none of the nations that make up the League have enough defenses to stop a Builder fleet."

There was a brief silence as the various officers considered the picture Iceren had painted. Personally, Walker thought that Sheridan might still manage to pull the squabbling races together even with the Minbari gone. But he knew the combat effectiveness of the various fleets and didn't think that would be enough. The technological gap was just too great. "And the second path, Commander?" Walker inquired.

"As I said, the Builders operate on a systematic strategy of slow and coherent advances. This seems to be adapted from when they still used jump engines. They also seem to have a penchant for rational frontlines. They have been following the hyperspace lanes in their advance and if it is these tendencies that hold true, the Centauri and Earth Alliance will be the next targets." He pressed a button and the display changed to show the situation once the Vorlons and the Shadows were defeated.

"As you can see, they will have a pretty big frontline to worry about with three major powers located near them. Two of them don't have the military power to concern them at the moment, but their industrial base is still intact so that can change. If the Builders follow this line of thought then they will mop up the Centauri and the EA next, while they are still weakened. And because of their actions in the last few years, neither can expect much support from the other races."

Captain Tuvol now asked a question. "And how will the fall of those nations affect the chances of the others?"

"Negatively, although nothing like the fall of the Minbari would. We have looked at the possibility that either may join forces with the other races against these Builders but the only way we see that happening is if the Builders attack. And by that time it is too late, both races just don't have enough territory to delay the Builders long enough for any substantial aid to arrive."

"And where are we in your analysis, Commander?" Commander L'Rrran intoned.

Iceren looked a bit saddened as he answered, "I am afraid that while we do have the most powerful ships in the region, we don't have enough of them to affect the strategic situation significantly. In my analysis, we are alas only a footnote." Commander Iceren's answer produced a variety of reactions, from Walker's suddenly pensive face to Santowitz's glare at the bulkhead. Most of them already knew that, but being told that was another matter. It was Walker that first spoke up above the hushed voices of the individual conversations that had sprung up. "Thank you Commander, but now that we know what happens if we continue with our current policy I think it is time we consider some alternatives."

"You propose we share some of our weapons technology with the local governments," Turol surmised.

"Got it in one." He looked everyone in the eyes as he spoke. "You all heard Iceren, given the current strategical and political situation nobody is going to survive this. Of course we can't provide them with our latest weapons and defensive systems. Putting aside the dangerous situation that would create in the long run, it would take them years to retool their shipyards." The engineering officers nodded at that. "Years we don't have."

Thalev now cut in. "You want to provide them with the same technology we gave Sheridan to fight the Shadows. But even then it would still take," And he now directed his attention to Commander Iceren, "what, weeks, months?"

Iceren raised his white eyebrows in thought, then looked over to one of the officers. "It would vary, some of the star nations are pretty advanced and could make the transition in weeks. But yes, many would take months to integrate the new technologies into their industry."

Walker now had a little smile on his face, Santowitz spotted it and suddenly he saw where Peter was going with this. He spoke up. "And then there is the problem of what they would do with that technology once these Builders have been beaten. Their past doesn't suggest they will handle them with restraint." Walker nodded, but Santowitz wasn't finished. "You're going to twist their arm."

Captain Turol's left eyebrow rose up. "Twist their arm, Captain?" Everybody else looked amazed at Santowitz, then transferred that look to Walker. "Oh, I wouldn't call it twisting their arm," he responded. Santowitz gave a humored snort.

"I just," Peter continued, "think we could use this offer to promote some cooperation between the various races as well as ensuring that the adverse effects of my proposal are kept to a minimum."

"I think you better let Sheridan relay the offer, because if it comes from us directly they will smell the trap and might just become stubborn just to show how independent they are."

Walker thought about that. "You might be right. What exactly did you have in mind?"

But before the planning could go any further, lieutenant Yatoshi advanced his own question. "Captain, are we not in danger of breaching the Prime Directive with this proposal?"

Surprisingly it was Captain Turol that answered. "If we follow that line of logic, we already have been in breach of the Prime Directive. Need I remind you that we supplied Babylon 5 with some of these technologies already." Her next words were as much for her fellow captains as for the other officers in the room. "When we made the decision to dispense some of our technology to others in this universe we set a precedent. None here question the logic behind Captain Walker's proposal, it is therefore illogical to reject it to follow a rule we already established as being subject to exceptions."

She concluded, "But proper procedures should be maintained. Would all those in favor of the proposal to dispense limited technical aid speak out." Only the Captains and their first officers had an actual say in this, a Starfleet ship isn't a democracy after all. They all voted for the proposal after which they began hammering out how exactly they would go about it.

But they soon agreed that they needed Captain's Sheridan input for that and so the gathered officers were dismissed. But before the Captains could leave, Captain Walker spoke up again. "Captains, if you could remain seated for a minute longer. There is something else we need to consider."

TBC


	39. Curtain Call

A/N: Yes, it has been a while but I am hoping this will satisfy everybody that has kept waiting for my next update. I don't remember if I actually answered all your reviews, if I haven't my apologies. As always I want to thank my betareaders for sticking with me and don't forget to read and review! 

Now on with the story!

**Curtain Call**

_'We were a silent, hidden thought in the folds of oblivion, and we have become a voice that causes the heavens to tremble.'_  
- Kahlil Gibran

**Alpha Omega system**  
As day and night went by on the planet called Z'Ha'Dum the furious battle continued out in space. Already the remains of tens of thousands of ships marked the final resting place for more than a million sentients. And still more were dying. They had given their all, out of fear or conviction, for this battered husk of a planet. And it wasn't enough.

At first the invaders had used hit-and-run attacks. First, drawing in the defending forces with large groups coming from a few, widely spaced portals, then once that had been accomplished, the attackers quickly surrounded those forces with a great many spatial tears disgorging smaller groups of attackers. From there the fight had devolved into a slugging match with each side replacing their losses as fast as they received them.

But the Shadows were running out of reinforcements, most of their servants were already dead and so were many of their own kin, as well. For the Shadows only the latter mattered, for they were a race of supposed immortals. Yet still they refused to abandon the planet, instead they tightened their defenses as the fight inched closer to the planet.

Morden had seen this all happening and he was getting rather nervous now. There was a reason why his masters didn't want to relinquish this planet to the enemy but he had no idea what it was. And now it seemed they were all about to die for it and all Morden could do was wait here with Justin. Then a chattering sound drew their attention to a Shadow that burst into the room.

"Why are we leaving?" He asked. It didn't make sense. One moment they were still bent on hanging onto this dead dust ball and the next they couldn't wait to leave. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught something on one of the holograms. A small red ship launched itself from the planet, clearly of non-shadow origin. It quickly broke out into space, destroyed several stray Eyes that tried to attack it and then it opened some kind of gate.

The sequence of events left both humans speechless. Neither had ever seen that kind of jump point before and forming one that close to the frontline should have been impossible. The Builder ships interdicted any jump point, both incoming and outgoing, in their vicinity. It was an effect that grew to cover a larger volume whenever groups of Builder ships joined up.

Justin was the first to hastily make his way to the shuttle, but Morden soon joined the limping older man, before he overtook him as everyone on the planet made a dash for the nearest spacecraft. It was every sentient for himself.

VVV

'From here it looks like a cloud of dust—those thousands of Builder ships,' Ashtar reflected. Of course a closer look revealed that the formation did not consist of uniform units. Interspersed with the octahedron-shaped ships were battleships that were ten times bigger; although these ships were still smaller than a battlecrab. Completing the fleet were the Hammers, which were just as big as a battlecrab. At their center, a gentle white light twinkled. It was the only thing of beauty on those ships; it was also the thing that most races would come to fear the most.

Ashtar noted that the entire Builder fleet kept itself in a meticulous formation, only giving way to the chaos of war where the actual fighting was going on. But the rest stood their ground as soldiers in a parade. Before the disaster, this would have given Ashtar cause to sneer. But he now knew that this attitude was testimony of their power, not their inexperience with the art of combat. The Drakh had broken their people in an attempt to smash that complacency and were now forced to become true nomads, without any home or Masters.

Because the Masters had been clear in this, once they had secured their departure the Drakh would have to go their own way. In other words, save yourself if you are worthy. When he thought of that unknown future, Ashtar tasted dread and he imagined most of his people felt the same way. The Shadows had been their Masters since time immemorial and the Drakh had always assumed that would be the way of things until the final victory of Chaos.

But at that time, at Z'Ha'Dum, fear ruled most minds as the exodus of the Shadows began. The first wave came from the planet as hundreds of ships rose up from the ground—the Shadows' last reserves. Screaming defiantly they were joined by the ships still in orbit as they all charged into the ranks of the world burners. Ashtar and his fellow Drakh made up the middle of this desperate group. The Raider he commanded was part of the group that secured the right flank. On their own left, their last remaining Mothership was only lightly guarded. When both fleets made contact it was like an arrow piercing the middle of a bullhorn.

The Shadows had the lead as the entire fleet drove into the enemy armada, all willing to accept every casualty if it gained them a few more kilometers towards freedom. Ashtar's Raider never swung to the side to keep its weapon trained on a target, instead the Raider simply fired quick bursts at whatever target happened to come into view as Ashtar kept the nose of the ship pointing forward. Their vessel shuddered as it collided with a piece of debris; a comrade blew up as it collided with the source of that debris, the wreck of a Sanchin cruiser, or a Sanchin cruiser that simply lost its engines. Either way, they were dead.

Debris wasn't the only hazard; weapons fire saturated the area as well. More than once, a beam of green energy skimmed across the hull. Ashtar and his crew were unsure whether the Builders had just missed them, or if they were aiming at someone else.

The Builders meanwhile began closing in on their adversary in a gigantic pincer movement. But the Drakh's Masters still had a surprise up their sleeve. A group of Shadow vessels, the ones that had arrived too late to support their brothers and sisters now slipped back into normal space behind the Builder fleet directly opposite the fleeing Shadows.

For a few seconds the ponderous Builder formation continued to execute its original plan as the new arrivals were assessed. Their impact on the situation was calculated; alternatives were considered and discarded. The ships making up the rear of the Builder fleet rolled to face the oncoming Shadow vessels but all kept their original heading. They had accepted that some of their quarry would escape, but they were determined to ensure it cost the Shadows dearly.

And cost them it did, for space was littered with the remains of dozens of Shadow vessels and hundreds of their allies. The Shadows were the first to enter hyperspace, but Ashtar and his people couldn't do so yet. The Drakh and the others needed to be further away from the Builders' effect before they could form a jump point. But by now Ashtar breathed more easily as he saw that the Builders weren't bothering with a pursuit. Instead the Builders pressed on towards the planet, cleaning up the stragglers.

His ship was about to enter the swirling vortex into hyperspace when Asthar saw it begin. He had heard the descriptions and even sawn a recording or two of it. But second hand accounts did not prepare him for this sight. The opening bombardment that would wipe away any trace that the Shadows or the Drakh had ever set foot on Z'Ha'Dum.

**Vorlon Prime**  
They had descended upon them like locusts on a field of wheat, leaving only death behind. The Vorlon Empire had the best defenses in known space. Outposts kept anyone from entering their territory through either normal space or hyperspace. But the Builders had simply passed them by, using their own bizarre form of faster-than-light travel.

Those few planets that were actually inhabited did have their own defenses, which the Builders had to face. They were supported by what ships the Vorlons had kept at home to defend against a surprise Shadow attack. It was enough to bring their attack to a standstill though they did manage once to break through and perform a limited orbital bombardment. The loss of life was minimal but many archives and storage facilities containing useful tools were lost. The latter was the heavier loss, the inquisitors alone were literally irreplaceable and that was only one example. The Vorlons lost far more of their own in the space battles that went on day and night, week after week.

Their first clue that the Shadows had lost came from the Builders. Where their last raid comprised of a mere 300 vessels, their next one was over 1500 strong. It wasn't enough to drive the Vorlons out of the system but it had been enough for the Builders to complete their work. And once the planet had been incinerated, the Vorlon commander ordered his people to fall back. He was certain they could stop this fleet at the next system.

But when the Builders came they had doubled their fleet once again and for a second time a Vorlon planet was wiped clean of all life. And so, the pattern repeated itself in the next system and in the one after that. The Builder fleet didn't grow by much anymore but if one attack failed, they simply sent another and another until they did succeed.

And so it went on until there was only one planet left. The Vorlons' original home planet was not much to look at; there were no crystal blue oceans or vast, green forests. Heavy cloud cover obscured it all; the only bright elements visible were the frequent lightning bolts. 'But now it was all they had left, at least it was all most of his people seemed to care for now,' Kosh reflected.

His ship was with the thousands of other vessels preparing to make their last stand here. Most of those ships were personal transports and not true warships. His people were bent on holding on to their home, choosing to forget the important task they had volunteered for. The others had entrusted them with the care for the younger races but nobody seemed to be considering what defeat might mean for them. So now Kosh would try one final time to persuade the others to listen to the music.

VVV

Kosh left his encounter suit after he had entered Central Command. The others had stopped their own activities when he had entered and now they silently observed him. The silence was not so ominous as Vorlons rarely made any sound at all; they used different means to communicate.

"My fellow beings," Kosh began. "I must call upon you one last time to reconsider this strategy. We were only able to stop the Builders ten thousand years ago because the others stood at our side. Now, we face them alone and we are failing."

"And what would you have us do," was Ulkesh's vicious retort. "Scurry away before these mindless automatons and beg for aid from those that have spurned our help?"

Kosh twisted to confront him. "They were entrusted to our care. We were tasked to guide them and to help them grow. Burning their worlds and wiping out entire species was not what the others had in mind."

Ulkesh began to speak hotly. "The Shadows…" But he was cut of by the shocking act of Kosh interrupting him. It was something that was simply not done when one Vorlon conversed with another.

"The Shadows compounded our folly. We did not stop them; we went along and competed with them. We will have to learn to live with our mistakes, but we can only do so if we survive today. We need the Younger Races to stop the Builders and they need us."

Now Kush waded into the discussion. "You speak passionately now of past mistakes, but I recall your earlier protestations were much milder. Regardless, you seem to forget that we can only evacuate our fleet, which would mean abandoning our fixed defenses. The best defenses in the galaxy, our best hope to stem the Builder tide. No Kosh," Kush concluded. "We will not abandon our best, last hope for victory. The Younger Races you have grown so fond of would not accept our guidance. Those extra-universal intruders have seen to that. After this Builder incursion has been dealt with there is still much work to be done—cleaning up the mess those Starfleeters have made."

For a moment Kosh simply floated, hoping that one of the others would speak up. But they only made agreeing gestures. He tried one last time, "The mountain does not stop the avalanche."

"Nor is the mountain phased by its pebbles," Kush countered. "No, Kosh. We have always been here, we will always be here."

Kosh went back into his encounter suit, "Then you have made your choice." And he turned around and strode back to his ship. 'And I have made mine,' he finished sadly. He entered his own ship again and gave a single command. His ship opened a jump point and plunged into hyperspace, others followed him.

As his few followers linked up with him he reflected on the past, asking himself where things had gone so horribly wrong.

VVV

"Those traitors," Ulkesh raved. "Those cowards, abandoning us now! Now we will have to send ships to get them back, ships we can't spare!"

"They simply are following their erroneous assumptions to their logical conclusions," Kush admonished. "And we don't have the time to retrieve them right now. For now, we must redeploy our assets to cover the gaps." He amended, "once we have stopped the Builders we can send ships after them but they will have seen the error of their ways by then and return. We have known of Kosh's sympathies for the Younger Races for some time now. What has surprised you is how foolish those sympathies have made him. As am I, but his rehabilitation will have to wait."

And with those words, they concentrated on putting the finishing touches on their defense. They reviewed the various tactics that the Builders have been known to use; determine which ones would be viable in the present situation and discussed among themselves which responses would be used; when and how the Builders would respond in turn. They had already been through this, so now it was merely a rehearsal to see how Kosh's departure affected them. And it helped to keep them occupied while they waited.

VVV

The Soul Hunter was anxious as he waited for what he knew was coming. Part of the anxiety came from where he was and how he had gotten here. Entering Vorlon territory without permission was beyond even his race. In normal times that was, but these were not normal times, which tied in with the other half of his anxiety. The Builders would not hesitate to kill him and they would only need one shot for it.

His own peers seemed to be too complacent to him. It had been the Builders whom had devastated their primary depository all those years ago and he saw no reason why they would be spared this time. But his people only pointed to their nomadic lifestyle and comforted each other with the argument that there was nothing for the Builders to attack. 'Nothing but us', he added in his own mind.

As always there was no warning before the spatial tears appeared, spewing forth hundreds of Builder warships. 'No, not tears' he corrected himself. It now looked like a giant energy ribbon stretching from one end of the battlefield to the other. Most of the Builder ships were their so-called Eyes, supported by the kilometer-long Hands.

On the Vorlon side, the Soul Hunter noted more plurality, from small, unmanned fighters to giant Planet-Killers. Of the latter, they had three and only two of them were in a position to confront the invaders. The third one was on the other side of the planet where it would take some time before the ponderous vessel would be in any position to lend its weight to the battle.

The Soul Hunter was somewhat mystified as to why the Vorlons were taking a ship designed to bombard planets into this battle. That question was answered while the Builders were still forming up outside of conventional weapons range. The two PK's opened fire, their massive beam weapons might lose just as much effectiveness as those of smaller ships across that distance, but since they had more power to begin with they could afford to waste a great deal of it and still be devastating. A little less than two dozen ships were destroyed in that volley. It would take the massive cannons some time to recharge.

It didn't matter, because the Builders were finished sorting themselves out and now began an orderly advance towards the Vorlon line. The Vorlons themselves held back, staying with the defense stations and the support they provided. Instead, they moved their fighter screen forward a bit, perhaps in hopes of drawing the Builder weapons to those expendable crafts. It was a tactical mistake in the Soul Hunters eyes. The Soul Hunter noted that the Builder fleet seemed to be smaller in comparison to the attack his brother had observed at Toura. 'Could it be the Builders were already running out of ships or were they being held in reserve?'

The mystery of the missing ships was resolved the moment the Builder ships began firing on the fighter escort. The fighters could only take the damage as their own weapons didn't have a comparable range. As this happened, new portals began to form inside the Vorlon fleet. The Hunter's breath hitched in surprise. None of them opened up inside anything, but some came close and some of the Hands that first emerged collided with Vorlon ships. The resulting explosions not only interfered with his ship's sensors but also seemed to cause the corresponding portal to close again. The rest however, now unleashed dozens of Eyes.

Most Vorlon ships were out of position, facing the still oncoming Builder fleet rather than these newcomers. Worse, most fighters were already engaged and too far away. These factors meant the surprise attack was devastatingly effective in its first moments. Small groups of Vorlon fighters were swatted away by a single Eye firing bursts instead of beams. The fighters' armor was completely ineffective. But the Vorlons had apparently been prepared for this tactic. Thousands of fighters had been held in reserve, inside the defense stations, which were now unleashed. They swamped the Eyes, supported by warships that had finally managed to turn and face this new threat.

The Hunter wondered what the Builders hoped to accomplish with this disorganized attack. Their ships were flying about everywhere completely unsupported. His question was answered by an exploding Eye. It had run into a pincer attack that left it with no place to go. His sensors could not tell from this distance whether or not its shields had failed before the explosion. But those same sensors did tell him the explosion was too powerful in comparison with the Eyes that had been destroyed by the PK. 'It must have self-destructed,' the Hunter concluded as the equivalent of a 270 megaton explosion savaged the Vorlon ships. Other explosions now lit up, signaling more Builder ships destroyed. But also more damaged and destroyed Vorlon ships. 'More ancient beings gone forever, but not the one I am here for.'

The most notable kamikaze action took place in the heart of the fleet where a lone Eye had managed to weave its way to one of the Planet Killers. It immediately went on an attack run, firing its disruptor as it went in on a collision course. A lone Vorlon fighter was pummeling it as it, in turn, tried to ram the Builder ship.

The action was enough to stop the Builder vessel from actually ramming the giant craft; it exploded less than a kilometer from the ship. The explosion didn't take it out, but it was enough to nudge it and cause severe damage to its weapon. Without a weapon there was precious little the Planet Killer could do. As the last of the Builder ships amidst the fleet detonated, the Builder ships that entered the battlefield first entered weapons range.

If the Vorlon fleet hadn't still been in some disarray, the Hunter imagined they would have met the enemy with a wall of fire. As it was, the first volley had some very large gaps. Halfway Vorlon beam-fire crossed paths with Builder disruptor fire, occasionally colliding and scattering each other. Vorlon armor and Builder shields proved equally effective in stopping the enemy's fire and a roughly equal amount of explosions graced that little stretch of space.

But the Builders apparently weren't the only ones with surprises; the Vorlons now unveiled theirs. Several jump points suddenly opened up in the lead formations of the remaining Builder fleet. Builder ships had no more resistance to the intense forces then other ships and several vessels were reduced to large chunks of twisted metal. The Soul Hunter expected a Vorlon fleet to come out of them, guns blazing. But nothing had come out of them by the time they closed.

It wasn't long before another series of jump points opened up. This time it happened right in the middle of the Builder fleet. The destruction was even greater this time but the Builder fleet stoically continued on as this happened a third and a fourth time. The jump points didn't form for a fifth time and only now did the Hunter realize they had opened up at roughly the same location each time. 'There must be a shell of jump point generators surrounding the entire planet just waiting in hyperspace,' he marveled. The resources necessary to build and maintain such an extravagant defense could only be harnessed by the Vorlons, the Hunter was certain of that. What was left of the attackers now had to face a Vorlon armada that was ready and it didn't take long before the last Hand was atomized in a barrage of energy beams.

VVV

Kush gave a mental sigh as quiet jubilation spread among his people. They had weathered the first wave and given their current losses Kush was confident they could turn the tide. But the irregular behavior he had observed during the battle did concern Kush.

These Builder fleets were governed by an AI that was limited to selecting a tactic from a preprogrammed list and they did not learn any new ones because the Builders had concluded that would inevitably lead to chaos. But the way these flanking Eyes were distributing themselves was most certainly not included in that list. Builder doctrine emphasized mutual support and orderly advances, not a mad dash in all directions by every single ship.

It could only mean one thing and one thing only.

VVV

The Soul Hunter was slightly less dignified in celebrating this Vorlon victory, he whooped but was interrupted when his ship called his attention. Apparently the Vorlons were not allowed a reprieve. The portals that had allowed Builder ships to infiltrate the Vorlon fleet opened up again, but this time it were no mere Hands that came out of them. Hammers, three kilometer long and wide now entered the fray. The glow at their centers became brighter as they lined up with their targets. By the time their main weapon was ready to fire, they had attained an angry green color, which the crimson color of their shields did nothing to hide.

Vorlon ships frantically scrambled to destroy them but it was impossible to stop them from firing at least once. After launch, the balls lost their intense brightness as they grew in size. But their destructiveness was undiminished as they cleared a path through space. Nothing remained in their wake and the Hunter grabbed his head as he was assaulted by the dying psyches of thousands of First Ones. The Hammers had to take care that there were no Builder ships in their path so that large parts of the Vorlon fleet were perfectly safe. But the two Planet-Killers and several defense stations weren't so lucky; they had been specifically targeted.

The surviving ships kept pummeling the world burners, even ignoring the other Builder ships that had followed the Hammers out and began relieving the pressure from the big ships. But it was not enough as one of the Hammers lost its shields moments before it was ready to fire again. The spectacular explosion did about as much damage as another shot from the Hammer would have done but it was done to friend and foe alike. It had even disabled another Hammer nearby. Having just fired, the Hammer simply suffered a myriad of damaged or outright destroyed systems. Vorlon ships had to finish it off.

Many Hammers did fire a second time but only one survived to fire a third one. By this time, the Vorlon fleet was in complete disarray with a large hole in their defense line. They still had a reserve fleet with the remaining Planet-Killer that was now racing to help and several more defense stations circling the planet at different locations. But the bulk of their assets were already engaged with the Builders and still the Vorlons were slowly beaten back.

The Soul Hunter could clearly see it. The Builders were in the middle, pushing back the Vorlons on both sides. One side was facing a Hammer with supports, while the forces gathered around the sole surviving station were merely facing large numbers of Eyes and Hands. But there was a fourth actor, the fleet that had been stationed at the far side of the planet in case the Builders would attack from there.

And this fourth actor now entered the stage as the Planet-Killer fired at its Builder counterpart. The shot surprised the Soul Hunter and he was certain he wasn't the only one. The shot breached the Hammer's shields and the explosion wiped out nearly a half of the Builder fleet. This freed up the ships that had been facing them and they now sped away to aid the ships defending the station. The Builders didn't pay attention to this development, however, and stubbornly continued on, driving ever deeper into the opposing fleet.

Once again the Vorlons managed to clean up the remnants of the Builder attack while the Builders themselves kept on fighting, never retreating. It was a well-known pattern and it had been one of the reasons why they had been so successful in their wars against the Shadows and their thralls. He gazed at what remained of the Vorlon fleet and began to feel uneasy. They would not appreciate his presence and now that the Builders seemed to have spent their strength the Vorlons might do something about it.

He kept a wary eye on the ships as they redeployed around the station. With fighters and larger ships intermixed to ensure that a new incursion within the fleet would be dealt with swiftly. He kept his guard up as the Vorlons waited for their reserves and for the next Builder attack. They simply waited. And both came. This time, the Builders went for the Planet-Killer and its support ships rather than what remained of the main fleet. So concentrated had the Hunter been on the Vorlons that he jumped from his perch when his ship called his attention to the attack. The attack comprised solely of Eyes and was dealt with swiftly. None of them self-destructed but they did manage to put the Planet-Killer's weapon out of commission and cut back its drive power by half.

And so it went for two days. The Builders would attack with a few hundred ships, mostly Eyes, and then wait for several hours before launching another equally futile attack. They still managed to take out a few ships with every attack but the kill ratios were entirely slanted towards the Vorlons. The constant vigilance did not seem to tire the Vorlons, but the Soul Hunter was not so fortunate. His kind didn't need that much sleep but they did need some now and then.

VVV

Some of the Vorlons claimed the Builders were spent and that they could now spare a few ships to go look for wherever they were based so they could finally put an end to this. And take care of the Soul Hunter that had been observing the battle as if it was some kind of contest.

Kush himself and a growing number in High Command were starting to lean to this conclusion as well but Kush was still cautious. He thought the Builders most likely still had enough ships for one last attack. But events would prove him wrong.

The attack began as any other, with a multi-colored ribbon appearing on every side of the fleet. But what was different was what came out of every single one of them: Hammers, their shields bright and their main weapon pulsating gently. Hammers that were completely unescorted but the Vorlons didn't even pay attention to that detail as they opened fire. The Hammers in turn didn't waste time either and charged up their own weapon, releasing them simultaneously before tilting to provide the smallest profile possible.

Kush saw them coming. Six balls of death all racing towards the center of the defense perimeter; towards the station he was on. One of them passed through the abandoned hulk of the Planet-Killer, which noticeably diminished its size. But the ball wasn't stopped or slowed down. The six plasma balls collided at the volume of space where a Vorlon space station used to be.

Their containment fields vied with each other, each trying to move forward. They slammed against each other, merged and finally gave way as the fields were overpowered by the press of the plasma within. A small, green supernova would be the Vorlons' gravestone as its light traveled amongst the stars telling anyone willing and capable of listening: 'Here lay giants, felled by ants.'

VVV

The Soul Hunter ignored all this, even when the titanic explosion blinded most of his ship's sensors. Instead he focused on his quarry whose passing he now felt. He did not try to catch his entire soul; the distance and the power of the being precluded that option. Instead he sought a piece of him, that was enough when it came to a First One.

He had to shift through thousands of pieces and do so quickly because there was still a Builder fleet out there. And then he had it. It wriggled and squirmed frantically and for a moment he feared it would slip away. But with a final effort the Hunter managed to put it in the receptacle. The orb gently lit up and the Soul Hunter cried out in victory. He didn't even bother to turn his vessel first, he simply plunged into hyperspace as fast as his ship could manage.

TBC


	40. Backstage

A/N: A new chapter, finally. It has been a few months and some of you have been worried that I had abandoned this story. As you can see and as promised I will not abandon this story, even if updates sometimes take a while. 

I would like to take the time to thank my betareaders who made this chapter and this story so much better than I could have done on my own. And now, on with the story.

**Backstage**

"Leadership is an action, not a position."  
- Donald H. McGannon

**Zig'Nal system**  
The eight octahedron-shaped vessels hovered over the carcass of a Narn warship as if they were victorious hunters. The sight was made incongruous by the fact that the winged cruiser equaled the eight gunships together in mass, although this had obviously not helped the crew of the old warship. Bits of the ship were gobbled up by the four black ships as two members of their crew attempted to entice some information from the battered computers. A task not made easier by the fact that most of the computers were unpowered as well.

A hulking figure was looming over one such computer after having batted aside the corpse of the Narn that had been operating it before her death. It moved one of its three fingered hand to the controls until it hovered over it. Then a thin rod shot out of the middle finger straight into the computer which came online after a few seconds. Figures, starmaps and documents began flashing across the screen as the silent figure trawled through the ship's records.

Suddenly, the screen froze showing a starmap. The figure paused for a few seconds as it silently requested instructions from a higher intelligence. Behind him an identical figure could be seen, slicing into the corpse of another Narn to examine its internal workings. After receiving its instructions the thing once again scoured the databanks of the computer. Concentrating on the destination of this ship, the computer began to produce all the information it had on one particular system: Bor'Goth.

Some time later, two figures could be seen launching themselves into space towards the ships they had come from. They did so without hesitation or showing any sign of discomfort about hurling themselves through space without any means to correct their flight path.

After collecting the two crewmembers the eight ships turned around and moved back to where they had come from. A ribbon of light suddenly sprung into being, illuminating the four ships and causing the crystal on their noses to sparkle. They plunged into the rift leaving only death behind them, on their way to the next target.

**Babylon 5, Brown Sector**  
"I really don't see why this is necessary," Waterson grumbled as he took a seat opposite of the man he had come to meet. He took another look around the place; it was certainly not his usual meeting place. It wasn't even on the same level; he had to come to Down Below as the locals called it. It didn't make sense that all his dealings with this man's underlings had taken place in places with better food and better smells, but when he got the boss he had to meet here.

Mr. Snow ignored the tone and answered affably. "I wanted to meet you face to face Mr. Waterson. See who I am dealing with and I wanted to hear what the deal entails straight from the horse's mouth. As for why we are meeting here, I am certain of the security here." And he gave a toothy grin as Waterson took another look at the few customers. They all seemed to be alert and unusually sober. "That, and the cook here makes the best cheeseburger I have ever tasted. You really should try it."

"I see." Waterson answered. Both men kept silent as they ordered. That silence wasn't broken 'till their meals arrived. "So, let's see if I got this right. Your superiors want my people to take over C&C long enough for Earthforce to come charging in and take over the station. In exchange I get a substantial payment, a pardon for me and my employees for any crimes they may have committed and no hassle when I want to leave the station."

"Ehm, yes." Waterson responded.

Snow took another bite out of his burger and chewed it thoughtfully. "I noticed that the Feds aren't mentioned anywhere in this little scheme. Although you did assure Pike that you had thought of them."

Waterson nodded. "We have, one of the reasons we want you to seize control of the station is so that you can hold its population hostage." Snow stopped just as he was about to take another bite. "We have done a psychological analysis of them and we are certain they would cave in to our demands that they do not interfere if we threaten to kill the station's population. President Clark agrees with this assessment." Waterson finished smugly, "and there are simply too many people for the Starfleeters to just teleport them out."

Snow finished his burger before responding. "I think you need to fire you psychologists, those Feds aren't the kind of people that are just going to give up." He washed the remains of the cheeseburger away with a gulp of beer. "And come to that, they should have fired you too."

"What do you mean," Waterson asked indignantly.

Snow grimaced. "What I mean, is that your little scheme is a gamble at best and I didn't get where I am by gambling." Snow gave a little smile. "Well, not gambling personally anyway. Add to that the way you managed to completely screw up the preparations and the amount of money you wasted doing it and firing you will be the least they are going to do." Waterson still didn't understand what was going on exactly, but he had suspicions. None of them were good and it turned out that all were wrong anyway.

He hadn't noticed that Snow retrieved something from his right pocket but he noticed the beep that the small device produced after Snow pressed it. And then the world dissolved in a shower of blue light.

The next thing he knew he was sitting in what he recognized as the station's security office. And in it were a number of station security personnel, several Federationists and the Chief of Security himself. Waterson looked bewildered at everyone before his eyes returned to Snow. He noticed that the man didn't seem to be very happy with the situation either.

Snow stood up but Waterson had no intention of doing the same, he didn't think he would be allowed to leave anytime soon. Snow tossed the communicator to one of the Starfleeters and then addressed Garibaldi. "There, you got your evidence and your man. Now I'll be going."

"Just a minute," Garibaldi stopped him. "I do want to make it clear to you that just because Starfleet isn't going to press charges doesn't mean I won't be keeping an eye on you. Now, as long as you stick to the nice kind of crime, you and me will get along fine. And if you don't, well, it's not like we actually need smugglers to survive these days."

"Yeah, already thought as much. Don't worry, we'll be quiet as a mouse. Besides, the only other place I can get a decent cheeseburger is on Earth. And have you heard about the crime rate there? Nope, not going to do anything that will rock my boat." And with that, Snow swiftly left the office.

Garibaldi now turned his attention to Waterson. He took Snow's seat before talking though. "I should thank you, we would never have found Snow without you leading us to his underlings. But you're more worried about what's going to happen to you, aren't you. Well, I suppose I could tell you not to worry but we both know that would be a lie. I doubt President Clark is going to be happy when he hears your voice in our latest broadcast talking about this scheme."

He continued jovially as Waterson wilted. "Captain Sheridan is letting Lefcourt know about this and that the talks are over as we speak. You'll understand if we don't give you the time to pack, no way to know what might be in your luggage. Which means that you got nothing to do right now. So why don't you, me and Miss Alexander here have a little chat about, well, I am sure something will come to mind." The Cheshire cat smile that the Chief of Security now produced did nothing good for Waterson's peace of mind. And why did that woman Alexander seem familiar?

_**Loviatar**_**, outer reaches of the Sorpigal system**  
'So here I am', Shakiri lamented to himself. 'Exiled to the fringes of Minbari space to guard it against pirates and smugglers.' After "The Disaster" as Shakiri called it, he had been stripped of his position in the Warrior Caste. And then they had offered him this command as a way to earn back the respect of his caste. A way to serve his people.

Never mind the fact that he had been right; never mind the fact that he had been betrayed. There was no way those Federationists could have gotten such good scans of Minbari ships. And the effortless way that human had defeated him was proof enough that the duel had been rigged. And the members of his own caste had accepted the outcome, they had effectively stabbed their own leader in the back.

So now he commanded an aged Tinashi patrolling the outer regions of the Sorpigal system. In fact, he commanded one of the only three mobile assets this system's defense force possessed. It sounded impressive untill one learned that those other two assets were a pair of warships that had last seen action against the Wen'Dan. And that was centuries ago.

Still, this position gave him an in. Something to do while he waited for his fellow caste members to come to their senses and recognize he had been right all along. Vashaer, his second in command, approached him and launched into her report, not even waiting for Shakiri to acknowledge her sloppy salute. "Our fighter screen reports nothing out of the ordinary. The only thing of note on our own scanners is Temal's comet. We will be passing in its wake in another hour." A Tinashi didn't actually carry any fighters, but they could play tender for a few. Spending several days inside a Nial was not something anybody did voluntarily, but it could be done.

"Then we will use this lull in activity," Shakiri sarcastically responded, "to hold some exercises."

Shakiri noted with distaste that Vashaer had grimaced at the word exercises. The drawback at being given this "choice" assignment was the quality of the crew. A quality that was notable in it being virtually non-existent, but that was something that Shakiri refused to tolerate. They were still Minbari and should have some pride in that if they couldn't bring up some pride for themselves. "Send half our fighter screen forward to the comet's tail and let them lie in wait there. Let's see how well they are at hiding and how good we are at finding."

But Vashaer didn't get a chance to carry out the order as the scanner operator on duty suddenly exclaimed, "What in Valen's name is that?"

Shakiri immediately forgot about exercises. "Be more precise in your reports, Bruli. And show us what you have found." Bruli did that and a hologram appeared showing an energy ribbon in space, with eight blood red shapes coming out of the rift. Shakiri was the only one to recognize the intruders and he found himself becoming a little anxious.

He didn't let it show though. "Let command know we have intruders in the system and that we have visually identified them as Builders. And bring the ship to combat condition." Shakiri waited as his crew frantically readied the ship for combat. A part of him was pleased as he noted his readiness exercises had cut the crew's response time in half. He noted with concern that the vessels were rapidly closing with his own. Not that there was anything else out here that they could have been interested in.

What was puzzling was their low number. Only eight of those Hands would not be enough to overpower even the meager defenses the colony world had. But there was also bad news. "Communications are being jammed and Engineering reports that it will take ten minutes to get the jump engines going. Your orders, Shai Alyt?" Vashaer asked, all her listlessness gone in the face of imminent battle.

"Use a tight-beam transmission to order two Nials to fly back to the colony and try to get beyond the jamming. And tell them not to come back when they do, they are to keep heading for the colony. Also, keep a link open with them for as long as possible so that they can record our battle." Vashaer swallowed as she realized the implication, Shakiri was not certain they would win this. "As for us, we will head straight for them, tell the fighters to stay close and to concentrate their attack on one ship at a time. It's the only way we can hope to punch through their shield."

VVV

Mazik watched her scanner with anguish as she and her wingman were flying away from the battle. They had been ordered to do so but she was leaving behind people that were as close as family. She left them behind to face an enemy and some of them could die without her there to avenge them.

It wasn't long before the two sides clashed, but things weren't going as she had thought. Her fellow pilots were indeed dying, but they weren't exacting the toll she had expected and they weren't alone. Her scanner showed that the enemy had no problems hitting the Tinashi or the fighters and half of the latter were dead before they had managed to score a hit.

She whooped as one of the gunships blew up, but the explosion produced yet another anomaly. Because the explosion revealed, according to the telemetry she was receiving from the Tinashi, that the ship didn't have any atmosphere. Which brought up the question of what their crews were breathing. Then her spirit was crushed as she saw the last of the Nials die, leaving the _Loviatar_ to fend off the enemy on her own.

She managed to immolate a second ship, but even from this distance her fighter's sensors were picking up the explosions that rocked the aging Tinashi. And it was only then that it hit her, they were loosing this battle. She watched, powerless to do anything, as the enemy carved up the _Loviatar_. And then those ships began to accelerate towards them and it was clear they were actually faster than the Nials. Suddenly Mazik didn't feel impotent any longer. Because now she had something to do, save her own skin.

She swiftly contacted her wingman. "Nerid, listen to me. We need to get word to our people of this. Our own survival is unimportant; we have to make their sacrifice count." She didn't have to explain about whose sacrifice she was talking.

"Of course, what is your plan?"

"We reroute the power from our weapons and stealth field to our engines. It's not as if they will do us any good if the enemy catches us."

"But that could fry our engines, how do we decelerate without our engines?"

"Who said we do?" Mazik responded fatalistically. "Even if we can't stop, we might still be rescued. And if not, we owe it to our comrades that their families know how they died. Even if it means following them into death as well."

Nerid didn't respond right away. "You're right," he sighed eventually. Then he tried to bring some levity to the situation. "And I have always liked a gamble anyway."

**EAS **_**Heracles**_**, hyperspace**  
Lefcourt was already mentally composing his final report about his failed mission, because that was what it was. He had failed to get Babylon 5 back under Earth Alliance control or convince any of the renegade Earthforce personnel to come back. On top of that, he would be the bearer of some other bad news.

While these Builders might not be an immediate threat, that could change and change soon. He would get together with Carter, who had come aboard after the _Phoenix_ had intercepted the _Heracles_, later in the afternoon to see what insights she had gathered about the Builders. Including any links the Builders might have with the Federation because the similarities in technology were a little suspicious to Lefcourt.

Waterson was also onboard. He had told Lefcourt of the attempt by Sheridan's people to subvert him and that he hadn't gone for it. He apparently hoped that show of loyalty would win him some leniency when he met his superiors at the Ministry of Peace. Personally, Lefcourt thought it an idle hope but he saw no reason to deny the man his hope. Waterson didn't have much left anyway and he couldn't care less about the Ministry of Peace or any of its members.

All in all, the only rewards that would come out of this trip would be some deeply disturbing information and the chance to return a soldier to her home. He had read Ensign Kimmer's initial report about how she came to be with the Starfleeters and about her time there and he had been impressed by how concise she managed to describe the people that had saved her life. And she had managed to get them some information they didn't have before. Mainly about how Starfleet operated and some history but the insight into their way of thinking could prove quite valuable.

But Kimmer had also revealed that those three ships, no four now, were harboring a lot more telepaths than originally thought by Earthforce analysts. And that these Starfleeters were far more acquainted with war than he had thought after Carter had informed him about what those Starfleeters saw as their chief mission. They might like to think of themselves as explorers but Kimmer had made clear they didn't think exactly like any explorers Lefcourt knew. Nor like any military mind, come to that.

After her ordeal, regulations required her to take a thirty-day of convalescent leave to spend some time with her family. It would give her time to get her bearings again and come to terms with the fact that she was the only survivor from the _Jupiter_. Not that she really needed much time to recover psychologically. The Starfleeters had done an excellent job helping her get over her survivor's guilt. He had to admit to being impressed that they accomplished the task in such a remarkably short amount of time.

Kimmer was smart and could think on her feet, he would have to pull some strings to get her transferred to his staff when she finally back from convalescent leave. That she understood the Federation better than any other Earthforce officer with the exception of Colonel Carter was only part of it.

Lefcourt hadn't been able to return Sheridan or the station to the fold but at least he had managed to save one member of Earthforce. As victories went it was a small one but it was a satisfying one and not one he had any ambiguous feelings about. That was a rarity these days.

TBC


	41. Change of Plans

A/N: First off, would everybody give a warm welcome to 2 betareaders that have joined the team. Inquisitor and MikieBEE have been a great help in making this chapter readable. Second, I would like to dedicate this chapter to Robert Jordan and Arthur C. Clark. Two writers whose books I enjoyed and have left to explore the final frontier.

**Change of Plans**

"All the gods are dead except the god of war."  
- Eldridge Cleaver

**Bor'Goth star system, Narn battleship _G'eron_**

T'Narl was sitting on his bridge again, staring at the main screen. It showed the system he was now responsible for, the last system in Narn hands. Of course the rest of the galaxy didn't know it existed, let alone knew that there was a Narn shipyard here.

His people had stumbled across this system by pure chance. The reason no one else had discovered it was because of the dark matter cloud in the inner system. It hid the red light of the star from astronomers and it didn't have a jump gate when his people first arrived here.

Because of this, it had been decided that it was the ideal location to house the main research and development facility of the Narn Regime. Its very existence a closely guarded secret, not many Narn outside of the system had known of its existence even before the war. Now, this shipyard was his people's best hope to retake their homeworld.

Unfortunately, that secrecy also produced a few problems. For one, they could build ships but lacked the people to crew them. What few ships were present were almost all needed to guard the system. His own ship, the first and last of its kind, was one of the few exceptions and it wasn't ready for combat. In its last engagement with the Centauri, all of the _G'eron_'s main systems on the left side had been rendered non-operational. Since then its left engine had been repaired but its left main cannon had actually been gutted to provide spare parts with which to repair other ships.

Another problem was the irregular contact they had with the outside. The dark matter blocked long-range communications so the only news they got was from the infrequent visits of other vessels. The last big piece of news that they had gotten was that the Vorlons had almost incinerated Centauri Prime; the thought still gave him a smile but for the most part they had to provide for their own entertainment here in Bor'Goth. Like observing test flights as they were going to do today.

VVV

"Control, this is Tor'Eth," Ni'kur radioed as she pointed her double-winged fighter to today's testing grounds, an ice-moon some distance away. "All systems are showing green, I'm proceeding with the first part of today's test-flight." The Tor'Eth had started as Project 37 and was supposed to be the replacement for the obsolete Frazi. The goal was a fighter nimble enough to compete with their Human and Centauri counterparts.

But the designer had gone further than that and had made the Tor'Eth capable of flying in an atmosphere as well as space. Then the war with the Centauri had heated up again. Suddenly the Narn found themselves needing everything. They demanded an interceptor, a dogfighter and a bomber. So Project 37 became the desperate scramble to produce a multi-role fighter capable of meeting all those needs and fast. Only to see homeworld fall just as the first prototype was ready for testing.

The situation had once again changed and the pace of the project slowed down, giving the engineers the chance to do a thorough test of the fighter and its various load-outs. The load-out Ni'kur was testing today was the standard one, consisting of one Light Ion Torpedo-pod and one resupply-pod carrying extra fuel and air so that she could make the trip without getting stranded or suffocating midway.

The ice moon was the destination, but the yard she had just left was situated in an asteroid belt and there were quite a few rocks in the way. So first she got to see if the new weight-distribution improved maneuverability before making her attack run on her 'target'.

Her heart rate sped up as she opened up the throttle, careful to keep it to about half of full power since she wanted to fly again tomorrow. 'Hard to do if the fighter you want to do that with is in pieces, especially if your own bits and pieces are mixed in there too,' she reflected.

The controls were practically identical to the Frazi's but the response was much better. You didn't have to wrench this fighter into the course you wanted. So after avoiding the first two asteroids Ni'kur began to push the craft a bit, cutting the margin for error thinner. She didn't bother keeping a constant dialogue on how the fighter was doing, the engineers back at the yard had a direct link to all the read-outs.

Ni'kur was just starting to enjoy her flight when an alarm began to blare out of the communicator. It was cut off with an agonizing squeal a moment later followed by several bright flashes from behind her.

VVV

On board the _G'eron_, T'Narl was still watching the experimental fighter weave through the natural obstacle course when a flash of light in the corner of the screen caught his attention. With a quick push of the button the view swiveled away from the experimental fighter until it centered on a glowing ribbon of light. Just in time to see the first ships fly out of it.

A corner of his mind was telling him that this was impossible, that it was insane. The sensors should have sounded the alert if a jump point was being opened, sensors that were still not seeing anything amiss. Not to mention the fact that jumping into normal space inside of an asteroid field was an accident waiting to happen. No sane commander would risk his ships like this and the defenses had been designed with that in mind. Luckily other sensors were picking up the fact that unauthorized spaceships had arrived. Their report triggered an automatic system-wide alert even as T'Narl ordered his own crew to go to battlestations.

But the ship was at rest, most of its fusion generators were offline and several systems were offline or in pieces for repair. T'Narl watched helplessly as the geometrically formed vessels appeared in the asteroid field, inside the inner defense perimeter and well beyond the energy mines. The first three ships used a green energy beam to cut straight through the tons of rock that shielded the command center as another vaporized the tachyon array. In seconds the command channel fell silent but not before it had carried the panicked voices of the people trapped inside to everybody in the system.

Fortunately most of the defenses were automated and had their own internal power supply. Without orders from the command center they were programmed to attack any craft they couldn't identify as friendly. Pulse cannons on other asteroids and defense satellites began peppering the invaders, their first volleys dissipating harmlessly on the red shields the invaders were sporting. A crew member on the bridge whooped when the first attacker succumbed to the barrage but not T'Narl, who was scowling at the tactical display.

T'Narl had noticed how much firepower it took to bring just one of those ships down and by the time the second one blew up, six new ships had already emerged from the rift. And the enemy ships weren't going down without taking several of the defense emplacements with them. Finally the first Narn ship carefully maneuvered into attack range and red beams reached out to touch energy shields that had almost the same color.

Again it took too long for one of those ships to die, withstanding the firepower of a G'Quan's main guns for three whole seconds before its crimson shield winked out and its pitiful armor offered no protection. In fact, most of the energy simply passed right through the ship and went out the other side, leaving the stricken vessel adrift.

The Narn Heavy Cruiser turned about to deal with its target's compatriots and left the destruction of its first opponent to a flight of Frazi fighters. The secondary armament of the G'Quan was already firing but simply splashed against the crimson shield without visibly damaging the ship underneath it. In turn two of the octahedron-shaped warships fired their weapon and the green beams ate through the spotted armor of the Narn ship. It wasn't destroyed and with secondary explosions going off the more than a kilometer long vessel completed its turn to bring its main weapons to bear. And continued to turn. T'Narl's heart sank; obviously the ship was simply following the last command of an already dead crew. Before the ship could collide with anything the attacking ships fired once more and this time the G'Quan didn't stay in one piece.

More of the defenders arrived, beating back the tide of the invading force. "Sir, Engineering reports the final generator just came online. We're ready to get into the fray."

A glance at the time told T'Narl they had completed the procedure that was supposed to take 10 minutes in half that time. "Excellent, take us out but slowly. We don't need speed, we need firepower. Tell Engineering to overcharge our guns as much as possible. I don't care if they blow up just as long as they blow up some of the enemy first!"

Ponderously the _G'eron_ began to move. Outwardly the ship could be mistaken for a G'Quan until you saw it besides a real Heavy Cruiser. For the _G'eron_ was a good deal bigger, as was fitting for something that had been designed as a battleship.

At the same time the _G'eron_ began to move towards the battlefield a new batch of the invaders came through the energy ribbon. But this time they were not alone for they were acting as a screen for a ship easily ten times bigger than them. It looked like someone had cut two large discs in half and then glued them back on a tube. The new ship fired four green beams of destruction. Sweeping across the hastily assembled defense force in front of it and slicing through them like a hot knife through butter. A lucky few were missed because they lay outside of the most economical path for the beams, while several more were only crippled but that single attack had still taken out half the Narn ships present there. This left the crews of the surviving ships hesitant, unsure if they should continue the fight as the enemy began to advance.

"This is Dar'Sol T'Narl to all ships. Any ship without offensive capability is ordered to fall back to the shipyards to function as a refueling and rearming point for our fighters. Everybody else will stand their ground and defend the last hope of our people to be free. Unless someone thinks we should just go home and cower before the Centauri. But don't bunch up, use a loose formation. Coordinate your fire, their defenses are too strong to break through on your own. We will target the cruiser first, we won't survive another attack from it. Fighters will run interference with the escorts, keep them off our back while we deal with the big ship." He cut off communications, hoping this would settle their nerves without getting them to do something suicidal.

It was true that the Bor'Goth system was their people's last hope, but that included the ships and their crew. If it turned out they had no hope of victory then he would tell them to jump and thus save at least something. He had learned the price of falling into traps all too well while fighting the Centauri. The problem was that his options were limited.

The battlefield was cluttered with asteroids limiting maneuverability and the enemy had the capacity to open jump points without warning. An unknown enemy with an unknown number of ships with capabilities that looked like they were up there with the Minbari. The only good news was that they could be hit, they could be destroyed.

His ships were still in the process of carrying out his orders when the next surprise came knocking on the door. A Narn surprise this time. One of the heavy plasma cannons on what used to be the nerve center of the defense system began to swivel towards the enemy cruiser. The first shot raked one of the smaller ships, erasing it from the universe. But the second one washed over the shields of the cruiser as did the follow-up shot.

And then the cannon fell silent even as the enemy cruiser continued on its path. Two of its escorts didn't ignore the now inert weapon and blasted it, which kept them from intercepting the single fighter that rocketed out of the shadow of the asteroid.

VVV

Ni'Kur wasn't enjoying her flight anymore but soon the ones that had ruined it for her wouldn't care much for today either. Instead of just turning back and taking the shortest route back to the fighting, as had been her first impulse she had gone a more roundabout way. By keeping out of sight and keeping the power down she hoped to escape their notice and it seemed to have worked because she now had a clear run on the enemy flagship.

She hoped it was the flagship anyway, because she didn't have enough torpedoes to take out any more beasts like that and even the smaller ones could take a lot of punishment. With a shake of her head she banished thoughts of the future and returned her attention to the now.

She couldn't see where the enemy was, but what was left of the static defenses were still broadcasting their sensor data to every Narn craft in the system. It was just a lightspeed transmission but the distances were so short that it didn't matter. Kicking caution out the window without a spacesuit she went to full power, appearing from behind the much-abused rock on a plume of incandescent gas.

It only took seconds for the enemy to analyze the new threat and formulate a response. Seconds they didn't have because Ni'Kur was already passing the two escorts as they were still pointing at the cooling remains of the plasma cannon. Another second and she let loose with her Light Ion Torpedoes, firing all four of them in quick succession before banking hard to the right towards a more friendly audience.

The torpedoes raced on, much of their momentum having been imparted by the fighter that had carried them rather than their own anemic engine. There was no counter-fire, so great was the enemy's confidence in their shielding technology. Then the first torpedo detonated just before hitting the shield, bathing it in destruction but not penetrating it. A second detonation made no difference and many Narns began to fear the ship was invulnerable.

And then the third detonation bloomed and when it died down, so did the crimson shield that had protected the shield. The fourth torpedo detonated closer to the hull and the plumes of superheated material rocked the warship. It wasn't staggered or stopped, indeed the involuntary movement was quite small. But it had come from an enemy who had been so very precise until then and that made it seem all the greater.

An old Th'Nor light cruiser was the closest ship and it took advantage of the enemy's weakness right away. Two bright red beams sliced into the armor of the cruiser, completing its demise when its power source took a direct hit.

Not that Ni'Kur was aware of that, she was too busy staying alive. The escorting ships in front of the cruiser were still exchanging fire with their Narn counterparts but the two escorts that had been protecting its left flank were focusing solely on her.

The increase in acceleration she had gained with the loss in weight only threw off their aim for the first few shots. Even with evasive maneuvers that left her body aching and fighting to remain conscious their beams still came close enough that she could have reached out and touched the things.

Her only hope was that they wouldn't risk firing if she got too close to their comrades. Of course she would have to weave through both hostile and friendly right after but she liked to stay optimistic. Already half the escorts had fallen, especially after the _G'eron_ unleashed a torrent of pulse fire on the enemy.

For a split second it looked like she was going to collide with one of those pulses, after plowing through an enemy ship that had lost its shields. Without hesitation or thought Ni'Kur dove into the expanding debris cloud said ship had become. Her pursuers kept firing, trying to hit her through the remnants. One came very when she jinked across something that looked like a person. A few droplets from the resultant spray of molten metal hit her ship but it was the momentary lurch to the left that had her attention.

She almost crashed then but managed to get the fighter back under control in time. A quick glance to inspect her wings nearly distracted her enough to stop her random evading. 'I picked up a hitchhiker,' her mind supplied. And there was no better word for it. A humanoid was clutching the barrel of the cannon on her upper left wing and was now swinging its body around so it could grasp the weapon with both hands.

Ni'Kur had no idea what the alien was going to try and didn't want to know either. But she knew that having an alien on her wing that was strong enough to survive a stunt like what this one had just pulled was a bad thing. So she went into a barrel roll hoping the thing would loose its grip. Another quick peek told her it hadn't but she kept trying, refusing to give up.

And still those two ships were pursuing her, executing quick stabs with their beam weapons. It was only a matter of time before they hit something and halfway they did. The force was enough to forcibly stop her roll but the unexpected change of her flight path saved her from a follow-up attack. She almost laughed right there when she saw what they had hit, only two lower arms were still gripping the barrel. The rest of her passenger was gone.

VVV

T'Narl had shared in his people's happiness when the enemy cruiser had been destroyed, but hadn't stopped worrying. With the base gone, all that was left of Project 37 was flying right there, cut off from support and surrounded by the enemy. Fortunately, the enemy was ignoring her for the most part.

Another bit of good news was that the secondary defense line at the shipyards was finally starting to take shape. What that fighter had done could be done by the enemy as well and there were still a few ships at the shipyards that were being brought online. Even if he could hold the system, with the shipyards destroyed the system lost most of its value.

Finally the _G'eron_ was in range and added its fire to the maelstrom, but only from its pulse cannons. T'Narl kept his sole main gun in reserve, just in case the enemy sent in another cruiser. He observed the destruction of another enemy vessel, saw the distinctly hollow explosion as its power source blew up. He called it a hollow explosion because there was no fireball, just a flash followed by a shockwave.

There were still three enemies on the field when two shapes began to emerge from the rift, both identical to the cruiser whose pieces were still hurtling themselves towards what was left of the Narn fleet. And they were alone. Without hesitation he designated the cruiser on the right as the priority target, ordering his ships to ignore the enemies closer to them.

As one his ship and the last two Heavy Cruisers under his command opened fire, followed by a trio of patrol boats who had just arrived. Two patrol boats ignored the order, too busy fighting off the three remaining escorts. They died moments later, taking only one of their opponents with them.

Five beams of light played over the crimson shield, draining its energy but not breaching its protection. They were still hitting the shield when the slower travelling pulses began to hit the barrier. T'Narl stared hard at the cruiser as if trying to bring down its defenses with sheer willpower. They only had a few seconds left before the capacitors were drained completely and after that it…

The main guns of the G'Quans fell silent, the inside of their barrels hot enough to give off a faint glow for a couple of seconds, and T'Narl wanted to pound his chair in frustration. Before he could even rein in his emotions the crimson protection of the targeted cruiser gave out and chunks of armor began to fly from the ship. In moments the enemy had been reduced from terrifying to salvage.

The return fire was far more effective. Both Heavy Cruisers were bisected and one sweeping beam of destruction wiped out half a patrol boat. The last one hit the _G'eron_ directly. It went through the thick armor as if it wasn't there, vaporizing the left main cannon. The one that had been offline because it lacked certain critical components. If it hadn't, the ship would have been wracked by power surges and secondary explosions as capacitors discharged the energy they could no longer contain.

If it hadn't. As it was, the crew still felt like they had been struck by a ten-ton hammer and the ship began to list as it tried to compensate for the abrupt movement with thrusters that no longer existed. They were still struggling to get the ship back under control when the last of the smaller enemies dove in, chased by a handful of Frazi fighters.

It hit the one of the thickest parts of the battleship's armor and still it was nearly going through. The enemy kept accelerating, ignoring the fleas at it back, in an apparent attempt to ram the _G'eron_ if it couldn't destroy it.

VVV

Ni'Kur saw the enemy frigate make its suicide run. The cannons on her fighter were more powerful than the ones on a Frazi but there was only one of her. Coupled with the range there was a chance she might actually hit one of her own, but there were a whole lot more people on the _G'eron_.

So she fired, gritting her teeth as most bolts did indeed miss. But she didn't relent, just kept firing when a ship came sailing in from the left. It was one of the patrol boats, its engines burning far hotter than the safeties would have allowed. She winced at the acceleration the craft was pulling, at what it must be doing to the crew.

It started firing, not aimed at the craft but just straight ahead. Doubtlessly it was a preprogrammed action because there was no way the crew could operate the controls. The ship ploughed into enemy, physically pushing it aside. The prow of the patrol boat crumpled against the shield but they took that crimson field with them and the engines rammed into the ship itself.

They didn't make it too far from the _G'eron_ when a bright explosion signaled the end of both ships. Once again Ni'Kur changed course, she was just going to land on the _G'eron_ and get rearmed there.

VVV

T'Narl offered a silent thanks to the crew of the _P'chan_. But a cold part of him wondered if they had bought him anything but a little time. Besides his own ship there were only a few fighters left and one patrol boat. The last of the static defenses had long since been destroyed and that was the only reason he had stuck it out here rather than having everybody fall back in an orderly fashion.

And that last cruiser could fire at any moment. There was no choice, he would have to take a chance. "Navigation, open a jumppoint. We will make our way to the shipyards via hyperspace. And tell the _T'gan_ to follow us in." The move was risky, they couldn't make precision jumps so there was a chance they would overshoot the target. But there was no way they would survive in normal space while being chased by that monster.

The crystals on the enemy cruiser began to glow, signaling they were about to fire when the jumppoint formed. The vortex looked odd, its contours wavered before firming up but T'Narl couldn't afford to waste a single second. For now the jumppoint shielded the _G'eron_ and the single patrol boat, so they slipped into hyperspace before the enemy could reposition itself. The hostile cruiser kept going for a few seconds more before changing its heading, straight for the shipyards.

Two more rifts now opened. One appeared right in the middle of the shipyards and disgorged another swarm of small ships. Before anyone could react they opened fire, indiscriminate of the state those ships were in. Damaged ships from the battle now died right alongside ships that were only half completed. What few defense satellites that were in range didn't last much longer as dozens of ships tore away any semblance of order amongst the Narn.

The second rift opened right in front of the jump beacon, a single ship emerged from it which destroyed the beacon without qualm before turning back into the energy ribbon.

"We should be near the shipyards now, Dar'Sol," the navigator reported. There was wariness in his voice and T'Narl couldn't blame him. Trying to do such precise navigation while in hyperspace was practically impossible with Narn sensors. An alarm coming from the navigator's station broke the tense silence.

The navigator's movements became panicked as he punched commands in. "We lost the beacon!"

T'Narl frowned at that. "Steady, H'Drog. And give me a proper report."

H'Drog took a deep breath which did seem to calm his nerves. "I apologize, sir. I just… I am not picking up the signal from the hyperspace beacon anymore, it suddenly got cut off."

The implications were staggering. Only the destruction of the beacon could have done that and nobody did that, not even the Centauri. It also meant more of the enemy had entered the system since they jumped into hyperspace. "Very well, we will open a jump point here. The _T'gan _goes first while we wait in hyperspace and try to keep it open for as long as possible before we follow through."

He hated doing that, but if the _G'eron_ went through first the _T'gan_ would be stuck in hyperspace. She had to go through first, no matter what was on the other end. T'Narl watched as the yellow vortex opened and the small ship sailed through it. An open comlink let them hear everything that was said on the patrol boat's bridge.

"We're in normal space, we have the shipyards in… By G'Quan, they're…" The start of a thunderous explosion drowned out the captain's voice before the link was cut off. "Shut it off, and close the jumppoint. Navigation, turn us about and take us out of here." Nobody protested the sloppy course since none of them had any better idea where to go. Without a beacon they were lost, even staying here was made impossible by the currents of hyperspace.

"Yes, sir. Setting the heading to 180 by zero." But T'Narl wasn't paying attention anymore. He was too busy reflecting on his latest failure.

VVV

Y'Stron cursed her luck again as she sat helplessly in her wrecked fighter as it lazily spun on its axis. All she could do was watch the enemy butcher the rest of her people as her remaining air ran out. It wouldn't be long now and then she would be gone. One of their frigates flew towards her, occasionally firing its weapon at seemingly dead hulks.

'Guess I am not going to choke to death after all,' was her cheery thought. A new sight came into view, a new rift had opened and more of the frigates were coming out. They were escorting ships that didn't have the crystal pyramids Y'Stron had come to identify as their sole weapon. Simple bricks, they were about as long as the warships that were escorting them.

She was still puzzling out what those ships were for when her body dissolved in green energy along with her fighter.

**Centauri Prime**

"Things are finally settling down here, I believe it is only a matter of days before we have achieved a more stable situation here." Admiral Cianti preferred to keep the conversation as innocuous as possible, even on a secure channel. "You should come and visit then, when I…"

He cut himself off when Londo's image became wavy, then distorted before being replaced all together by a logo Cianti had never seen before. It looked like five carved stones fitted together to form a wall, but before he could study it further it was replaced by a blue screen with letters scrolling up from the bottom of the screen.

It started by addressing the Centauri people and what came after that was just as matter-of-factly. And a lot more chilling.

TBC


End file.
